“I’m so good at sleeping that I can do it with my eyes closed.” — Anonymous

  World Sleep Day is today, Friday 18th March, and is a reminder to celebrate the importance of a good night’s rest. The World Sleep Society is the organisation behind the drive to highlight why quality sleep is important for a sound body and mind. Getting a good night’s sleep is necessary for your health. In fact, it’s just as important as eating a balanced, nutritious diet and exercising.< Though sleep needs vary from person to person, most adults require between 7 and 9 hours of sleep per night. Yet, up to 35% of adults don’t get enough sleep. Sleep deprivation can put your health at risk, which is why it’s essential that you prioritise and protect your sleep. Getting a good night’s rest under stressful conditions is hard enough, but sleeping well during an ongoing pandemic seemed impossible some nights. Stress-related insomnia due to COVID-19 is a real thing and it even has a name: coronasomnia.

This type of sleep deprivation is more complicated than normal stress-related sleeplessness because it is not just about the virus but also about everything that has changed since the world has turned upside down. Stress levels skyrocketed during the pandemic for many reasons, including loneliness, economic hardships, juggling work and school, and navigating parenting challenges. Something that hasn’t changed is that here at Morukuru Family is that we are still all for sleeping, napping and dreaming and offer guests plenty of opportunities to indulge in this ultimate form of relaxation.

Celebrate World Sleep Day by embracing these five tips to improve your sleep.

1. Make sleep a priority - even with the jam-packed leisure schedules on offer at Morukuru Family - set aside at least 8 hours to get some quality shut-eye. There’s always tomorrow to go game watching, enjoy some dune boarding or sip on a cocktail beside the pool. 
2.  Take a nap if you are tired. Our modern world sees resting as time-wasting, but we see it as an important investment in your rejuvenation so that you have the energy to tackle the important business of the next day like mountain biking through the fynbos, rhino tracking in the bush or enjoying a great read in the library at AtholPlace House & Villa. According to experts napping works to keep you from forgetting things like motor skills, sensory perception, and verbal recall, too.        
3. Select a magical setting. Imagine snoozing under an African night sky. A sleep-out in the private Hide at Morukuru Family Madikwe, overlooking a waterhole from an elevated platform, is the perfect antidote to insomnia - thanks to the quality bed, thick duvet, warm blankets and hot-water bottles! What is more romantic than listening to the call of the wild, whilst drifting off? Research suggests that sleeping on a medium-firm mattress, promotes comfort, proper spinal alignment, and quality sleep. All the Morukuru Family properties offer extra sized beds in length and width.        
4. Make sure you have comfortable, inviting bedding. All Morukuru Family properties offer the finest thread count, 100% cotton sheets and duck-down duvets so you can snuggle under the highest quality bed-linen while catching your forty winks. Cotton is soft, lightweight, and breathable, which allows air circulation to your skin and down is lightweight, breathable and warm.
5.  Block out noise and eliminate as much light as possible. No problems here as Morukuru Family De Hoop and Morukuru Family Madikwe are immune from excessive unnatural light sources as both are situated in nature conservancies where you might only be disturbed by the crash of the waves or the roar of a lion. Darkness is essential to sleep. The absence of light sends a critical signal to the body that it is time to rest. Light exposure at the wrong times alters the body's internal "sleep clock"—the biological mechanism that regulates sleep-wake cycles—in ways that interfere with both the quantity and quality of sleep. All Morukuru Family properties have block out curtains in all the rooms.

Use our tips to improve your sleep in general and make tonight, World Sleep Day, your best forty-winks ever. We agree with the anonymous person who wrote “Don’t give up on your dreams so soon, sleep longer.” And here at Morukuru Family, we are all about rest, relaxation and rejuvenation.