Trend Report: Sleep Retreat

The innovations by MEC are explored in regular updates that examine new developments in stitch, yarn, fiber, engineering and technical knowledge for the circular knitting market.

As more research and attention is being given to our sleep patterns and the effects certain sleep disorders can have on our longterm health, the need to create a calm and quiet space to catch some shut-eye has never been more important. Creating a dark and soothing environment is helpful to construct a calm and nocturnal environment that will not disrupt our senses, making it easier to drift off into dreamland. Using inky colors mixed with natural materials and repetitive patterns allow our eyes to take a well needed break from the constant digital stitmulation we use in our daily lives.

While once seen as a cozy comfort, doctors have advised against having televisions in the bedrooms for years, and now with the well documented effects of the blue light from smart phones and tablets causing disrupted sleep patterns it is advised to stop looking at them at least 30 minutes before bedtime. For this reason it is important to make your befroom a very relaxing and welcoming space that helps us to transition into 'switching off' from the daily grind.

While black-out curtains have been a staple in hotels for years in order to help weary travelers catch up on sleep and aid the jet-lag that affects us in the first days of travel to a different time zone, doctors are reporting that being on a natural sleep schedule that is in tune to daylight hours as our ancestors once were is proving an important feature for calming our nervous system.  While this is not possible for a lot of us, using a combination of light-filtering and blackout elements for our bedroom windows could help us adjust the arrival of our morning sunlight to help aid our sleep schedule to be as healthy as possible.