sleep health products

There is no universal "god-level product". Only products that match your specific sleep problems and physiological characteristics are useful. At least 80% of people follow the trend and buy sleep products, but in the end they end up idle and gathering dust, which is purely IQ tax.

In the past few years, I was responsible for the health category operations of an Internet company. I have tested no less than 30 sleep-related products, from the lavender sleep-aid sachet with free shipping at 9.9 to the smart adjustable mattress at 12,999. My feet were swollen from stepping on it, and I also discovered many secrets that no one in the industry wanted to explain clearly.

Let’s start with the sleeping supplements that everyone dares to buy blindly. There are really big differences in this circle. Evidence-based medicine currently has only melatonin that is truly effective, and it is only for people with jet lag and delayed sleep phases - people who stay up until two or three o'clock every day to fall asleep and cannot wake up until ten o'clock in the morning. Taking a small dose of about 1 mg can indeed help you move your biological clock forward. But don’t listen to the nonsense of the merchants. Many domestic Internet celebrities can take melatonin at a dosage of 10 mg per tablet, which is several times higher than the national recommended dosage. A young girl in my previous department took a certain Internet celebrity product and sat in the first row at the quarterly meeting the next day. She fell asleep for half an hour and didn’t even wake up when the director called her on. The more recommended products of wild jujube kernels in the traditional Chinese medicine circle also depend on your physical condition: if you have a heart and spleen deficiency that can't sleep tossing and turning, and is easily tired at ordinary times, drinking jujube kernel ointment is indeed effective. However, if you have a strong liver-fire type, such as being stressed recently, losing your temper all the time, and having a dry mouth and a bitter mouth, you may get internal heat after drinking it, and you may lie down with your eyes open until three o'clock.

After talking about what goes into the stomach, let’s talk about wearable and bedding products. Many people buy smart watches and bracelets just to see sleep monitoring data. You may not believe it. I had a meal with a friend who works on wearable algorithms. He complained that there are many ordinary bracelets that cost hundreds of dollars. Sleep monitoring basically relies on body movement and heart rate: if you lie still for two hours and read a novel, it will judge you as deep sleep. If you turn over, it may think you are awake. If you really need to rely on monitoring data to adjust your sleep, you can either spend two minutes every day keeping a sleep diary. When you go to bed, how long you fall asleep, and how many times you wake up in between, it is much more accurate than ordinary bracelets. Of course, this does not mean that monitoring products are useless. If you always snore, feel sleepy during the day, and suspect that you have sleep apnea, even though the polysomnography monitor you wear in the hospital is full of wires and looks like a Teletubbies, it is the gold standard for troubleshooting problems, with an accuracy rate of more than 95%.

As for the mattresses and pillows that everyone is most willing to spend money on, don’t believe in the “black technology for spine protection” and “special for deep sleep”. I used to choose a mattress for my parents, and followed the trend and bought an Internet celebrity slow rebound memory foam model that cost several thousand. My mother had a protruding waist. After sleeping for a week, she said it was difficult to turn over and her waist hurt. Later, she changed to a palm and 2cm latex composite model that cost less than two thousand. She said it was comfortable the first day she lay on it. To put it bluntly, there is no uniform good standard for bedding: if you have bad cervical vertebrae, don’t buy a buckwheat pillow that’s too hard, and don’t buy a soft pillow that collapses when you press it. It’s appropriate to lie on it so that your chin and forehead are at the same level. ； Those who love snoring can try a sloped pillow that slightly elevates the upper body, which can reduce the probability of airway obstruction. ； If you are not sure what is suitable for you, go to an offline store and lie down for ten minutes. If you feel that your whole body is relaxed and no place is pressed, then it is suitable for you. It is more useful than reading 10,000 reviews.

Let me tell you something that many people have never thought of: the most cost-effective sleep products are actually gadgets that cost tens of dollars. I used to rent a house on the main road, and trucks would make loud noises at night. I took melatonin and incense to help me sleep, but it didn't work. Then I spent 29 to buy a pair of noise-cancelling earplugs, and then spent more than 100 to put up vinyl blackout curtains. I slept for more than 7 hours that night without even dreaming. Many people always think that if they cannot sleep well, they have to buy expensive high-tech products. In fact, if you solve the most basic sleep environment problems such as noise and light first, half of the sleep problems will disappear by themselves.

My current sleep configuration is very simple: dozens of earplugs, more than 300 ordinary memory foam pillows, I only take a small dose of 1mg melatonin when I am jetlagged on a business trip, and the sleep aids and aromatherapy machines that I have tested before cost thousands of dollars, and I have basically given them to relatives and friends. Really, when it comes to sleep, products are always an auxiliary. If you lie on the bed and still hold your mobile phone and watch short videos until one or two o'clock, even if you lie on a mattress worth 100,000 yuan, you will still be unable to fall asleep.