SOS Sleep, HBvL Big Sleep Survey

On average, humans spend a third of their lives sleeping. That night’s sleep had better be good. But does the limburger sleep well, too? In collaboration with the research agency Ipsos, Het Belang van Limburg has conducted the largest ever sleep survey in our province. Ipsos surveyed a representative number of 500 Limburgers over the age of 18 about their sleep quality and sleep habits. You can read the survey results—surprising to say the least—from Monday in the SOS Sleep dossier.

Pets in bed

For example, Limburger seems to lie awake more at night than expected. Why do we stare at our alarm clock for hours at night? Why do we sometimes have trouble sleeping? The survey also assesses the Limburger’s sleeping rituals. How many hours do we sleep on average? What time do we sleep in the evening and what time do we wake up? Do we sleep enough? How often do we use our smartphone in bed? How does our partner affect our sleep? And how often do our children or pets sleep in our bed?

Ask for help at the right time

Starting Monday, we’ll be directing all of your sleep questions to sleep expert Annelies Smolders for an entire week. De Hasselt is a clinical psychologist, psychotherapist, and sleep specialist. She runs Huis Midori group exercise in Hasselt and developed the online sleep therapy Start to Sleep. “Through this online therapy, I’ve already helped over 5,000 people with their sleep issues,” says Smulders. “Good sleep is vital. Children and young adults need sleep to grow and develop. In addition, sleep is also important for processing and giving a place to all the information and emotions during the day.”

“Good sleep is vital. Children and young adults need sleep to grow and develop.”

Sleep expert Anneliese Smulders

Smulders also stresses that you shouldn’t let insomnia linger. A long-term sleep problem is often accompanied by all kinds of physical and psychological complaints such as depression or fatigue. Therefore, seek help at the right time. Using sleep techniques, I can relieve 80 percent of my patients’ insomnia after six weeks. I always say that correct sleep knowledge is the best sleeping pill.

Free box spring

In the lead-up to SOS Sleep, we’ve already highlighted one surprising finding from our survey. For example, we asked The Limburger how often they change their sheets in the bedroom. And guess what? Limburger is very clean. For example, two-thirds of Limburgers change their sheets every two weeks. About a quarter of Limburgers wear new sheets once a week or more often. Only 4 percent change sheets once every two months. For people who do not have a partner, that percentage is 7 percent. The older we get, the more often we change the sheets.

There is also a contest associated with the SOS Sleep file.