The sleeping experience at Austria Trend Hotels

Austria Trend Hotels’ measures for a good night’s sleep 

Hot tea and a delicioius breakfast for a pleasant morning: We want your sleeping experience at Austria Trend Hotels to be particularly enjoyable! 

About sleep 

Did you know that prior to the industrial revolution, people in large parts of Europe were sleeping in two phases? In at least 13 European languages, the concepts of “first sleep” and “second sleep” – there used to be a longer break from sleep after midnight – were perfectly commonplace? Even Homer, Tolstoi, Balzac and Varga wrote about it. 

Ideally, sleep is supposed to last eight hours without interruption. However, this widely held opinion cannot be confirmed by evolutionary biology. Before man invented artificial lights, people were sleeping much more in winter than they did in summer. Whether you sleep for six or ten hours a night is not all that important – what matters is how good you feel on the amount of sleep you’re getting. 

“Just a few hours? That’s not normal.” Well, there really is no such thing as “normal” sleep. The pressure of having to go to sleep at a certain time or wanting to finally sleep through the night – those might actually be the reasons why you’re not getting what you want: a goodnight’s sleep. Free yourself from preconceived notions of what it means to have a goodnight’s sleep – the sleeping experience at Austria Trend Hotels supports you in that!

Sleep 101 

Create your own feel-good atmosphere for a good night’s sleep! The following sleep tips will help you with that: 

1. Relaxation: Work, physical exertion or a thrilling movie: Avoid any kind of stress and stimulation at least two hours before bed!
2. Sleep deprivation: Try not to sleep during the day! With the exception of a short nap – but your “power nap” shouldn’t last longer than 20 minutes.
3. Food: A rich dinner could make you tired or – in the case of foods that are hard to digest – hinder sleep. Eat several hours before bedtime or opt for easy-to-digest foods! 
4. Fresh air and movement: A leisurely evening walk is perfect to get yourself in the right mood for sleep. Give strolling around the hotel and getting to know the surroundings a try – you won’t regret it! 
5. Bedtime rituals: Regularity is important for a good night’s sleep. Always follow your own rhythm and go to bed around the same time every day! 
6. Darkness: When it gets dark, it’s time to go to sleep – that’s what humans have become accustomed to over the course of millennia. So: Make sure the room you sleep in is as dark as possible or put on a sleeping mask! 
7. Cooler temperatures: Ideally, the right room temperature for sleep – no matter if it’s summer or winter – is between 15 and 19 degrees Celsius. Turn down the heating and open the windows! 
8. Warm hands and feet: Cold hands and feet make it harder to fall asleep – responsible for that is the body’s thermoregulation, which doesn’t work as well if your extremities are cold. Socks or a warm foot soak work wonders in this case. 
9. Being tired: You need to get up early the next day? Still: Don’t go to bed before you’re actually tired! 
10. Think positively! Think about something beautiful and relaxing – for instance, your favourite type of landscape or a precious memory from childhood! 

By the way: To remember your dreams at all, you need to be awake for at least one minute. Congratulations to everyone who says they don’t dream: Very deep sleep is the reason for that. 

Fun facts about sleep 

1. The longest period of time someone ever went without sleep was 18 days, 21 hours and 40 minutes. 
2. Scientists from Vienna have found out that women apparently sleep better alone, while men tend to feel safer when they’ve got someone to keep them company. 
3. A detour into the animal kingdom: Giraffes only sleep for two hours a day. Tigers usually rest for 16 hours a day, and snakes sometimes sleep for up to 3 years. 
4. During sleep, a person loses about a litre of water and wakes up 25 times. 
5. New parents can expect about 6 months of sleep loss during the first two years of having a baby. 
6. We dream for six years on average throughout our lifetime. But keep in mind: If you snore, it’s reportedly not possible to dream at the same time. 
7. Speaking of snoring: The world record for snoring is at 92 dB in volume – that’s as loud as a jackhammer. 
8. Have you ever felt like you were falling or tripping while falling asleep? Responsible for that is a disturbed sense of equilibrium, because your body is in motion in your dreams, while you’re lying motionless in your bed. 
9. Another phenomenon: uncontrolled twitching of your arms and legs when you’re falling asleep. The motor centre in the brain controls our movements. It shuts down later than the parts of the brain responsible for active thinking and sensing. 
10. Back sleepers are said to be self-confident, stomach sleepers to be well-organised and tidy, and side sleepers to be vulnerable and seeking protection. If you sleep on your side with your knees pulled up to your chest, you’re said to possess a lot of empathy.