By Susanne Sullivan
A training program, proper nutrition and sleep. These three components sum up an athlete’s life… whether you are a professional, competitive age-grouper, or even a weekend warrior. Each one depends on the other as it supports or deters your training and racing successes or failures.
Exercise is wonderful for your mind, body and spirit but it is also a stress that depletes nutrients and energy and tears down muscle. To repair and replace what is lost we must use proper nutrition and also sleep. The better your rate of sleep or rest, the better your training and racing efforts will be. Experts say that it is best to get a minimum of 6-8 hours of uninterrupted sleep per night to properly rebuild muscle and replace nutrients. This will help maintain your speed, endurance, and accuracy.
Luckily, the manufacturers at Bear Mattress have recently introduced a mattress line built especially for athletes and persons who live the active lifestyle. The Bear Mattress has been engineered with both advanced foam and Celliant™ technologies. They worked with experts around the world to design a mattress that is universally comfortable, improves sleep quality and increases your energy… all at an incredibly affordable price!
Celliant™ technology is a proprietary fiber that is loaded with a potent mix of thermo-reactive minerals. The goal of Celliant™ is to recycle and convert radiant body heat into something that gives your body a boost— infrared energy. According to their website, Celliant™ harnesses this energy while you sleep so that the fibers promote circulation leading to an increase in oxygen levels and to faster recovery and healing. For more information on how it actually works you can visit http://celliant.com to get all the details. Or, you can try a Bear Mattress which utilizes Celliant™ technology in the covers of all their mattresses. Bear Mattress offers a 100-night risk free money back guarantee for you to try it out.
I am fortunate that I have been able to try out the Bear Mattress for the past couple of months. My previous mattress, also foam, was around 8 years old and I had begun having some bad back and hip pain during the night. I could never get comfortable and pretty much tossed and turned the entire night…all leading to a complete zombie effect in the morning. I train anywhere from 10-14 hours per week in addition to work and parenting three kids. Not sleeping was not only causing brain fog during the waking hours and throughout the day, but I wasn’t enjoying nor was I really ready to tackle whatever training I had planned for the day. Just getting out of the bed was a chore. So when I was contacted by Bear Mattress it was truly a blessing. The owner explained the technology and benefits that the mattress presented such as heat retention to pull heat away from you during the night and the combinations of graphite gel infused foam and also Celliant™. I expressed the concern that it may be too soft with the different layers of foam but was reassured that I would find the mattress to be neither too hard or too soft. Like Goldilocks said, “it’s just right.”
Bear Mattress is an online company. It’s a little different than the traditional method of purchasing a new mattress but with the technology and research that has been put into the manufacturing and the guarantee that is offered, you really can’t go wrong. 
You order the size you need and the mattress is shipped compressed in a box about the size of a large golf bag. Once you slice open the box and inner container, the mattress just inflates and reshapes instantly (fully in around 24 hours but I slept on it the first night and it was fine). It was a pretty amazing sight. For me, it did take a few weeks for my back to readjust to a mattress that was more supportive and the packaging materials did express that some adjustment period may be necessary, especially for those already experiencing pain. However after using the mattress for a few weeks, I can definitely say that my sleep is much better and my energy level upon waking is even greater (a severely notable difference in energy!). I don’t wake up during the night and am sleeping in longer intervals. My back has stopped hurting and I am definitely ready to get moving in the morning. I have also experienced more energy during training sessions, throughout the day and into evening and have less muscle soreness…all a win-win for me and for my family.
Try a Bear Mattress for yourself and feel the difference it can make in your own life. Information can be found at www.bearmattress.com.
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Susanne Sullivan is a mom, triathlete, and avid health, wellness and fitness enthusiast. She especially enjoys cycling the country roads in Clayton and running with her boxer Hershey. By day, she works as Event Production/Marketing Manager with Endurance Magazine promoting Tar Heel 10 Miler, Ramblin’ Rose Women’s Triathlon Tour and Quintiles Bull City Race Fest. She can be contacted at susanne@endurancemag.com
