And just like that, Christmas is here! Our tree is And just like that, Christmas is here! Our tree is up, the Santa hats are out and the first doors on our advent calendars are open.

I love this time of year. It is my favourite. And it’s one of the few times still full of magic even as an adult. I’m going to be soaking up every minute of joy the next few weeks bring and I hope December is full of moments of joy for you too.

Happy December! 🎄
AD | Christmas has arrived at @thelexiconbracknell AD | Christmas has arrived at @thelexiconbracknell and there’s so much to entertain the whole family whilst you do your Christmas shopping! 

Visit The Lexicon Glow Room for a magical light experience that will dazzle you with 20,000 LEDs. It feels like the room goes on forever! Then, take a dip in the Light Pool, a magical ball pool with golden balls to be found and prizes to be won!

If that wasn’t all, have a photo in the giant Christmas bauble ‘sparkling selfie station’ and follow the Twinkle Trail, spotting baubles in shop windows to collect the clues and enter to win fabulous prizes this Christmas. Plus, share your sparkling selfie station pictures, tagging #thelexiconbracknell or email them to marketing@thelexiconbracknell.com and you will automatically be entered in a competition for the chance to win a restaurant gift card too. 

There are also special performances from local choirs, bands and singers and even the chance to meet Bluey, Hey Duggee and Chase from Paw Patrol! You can be sure that a trip to The Lexicon will have something for everyone over the festive season this year. We loved our visit to The Lexicon last weekend and know we’ll be back again before Christmas!

Find out more on @thelexiconbracknell website.

#TheLexiconBracknell #Merry&Bright
AD - Press Trip | What a lovely evening that was! AD - Press Trip | What a lovely evening that was! We had our first Glow Marwell experience tonight - and we loved it. It may even be the best light trail we have been to.

We spent well over two hours at @marwellzoo, enjoying the light installations, indulging in the food stalls and cafe, toasting marshmallows and even meeting Father Christmas! 

Glow Marwell was such a nice way to kick off the festive season - and it’s on all the way through December! If you’re looking for a really nice festive activity the whole family can enjoy, this could definitely be it!
AD | Are you looking for gifts for the grandparent AD | Are you looking for gifts for the grandparents this year? @famileo_uk is a wonderful gift, giving the recipient a personalised gazette of family news regularly throughout the year - and it costs from just £5.99 a month. 

Multiple family members can use the same subscription, all posting messages to be added to one gazette - and sharing the cost of the subscription too! It’s great for parents, siblings and children to all share their news with grandparents each week, fortnight or month. 

We’ve been sending my dad Family gazettes for a while now and he absolutely loves them. It means we tell him all the little things that are happening and not just the big news you remember to mention in phone calls. The children get to upload their own messages to their grandad and it’s definitely made them feel closer, building a stronger relationship despite living far apart.

Find out more about Family over on the blog - link in bio - and buy a subscription for your nearest and dearest this Christmas. It’s a gift they will definitely love to receive.
Two weeks of Fred & George! I won’t be doing the Two weeks of Fred & George! I won’t be doing these updates every week but I like having somewhere to put all these photos!

They’re now three months old, super loving and happy, making biscuits and purring constantly.

They stay in ‘their’ room overnight but explore the house during the day, getting more confident as time passes. They even got to the point of relaxing on the sofa with us last night.

Fred & George are now very much part of our family and I can’t imagine them not being there now - even at 7am when they’re miaowing at the door for breakfast!
AD | Stuck for screen-free entertainment that your AD | Stuck for screen-free entertainment that your kids will love? Claim your FREE Banjo Robinson activity pack today!
 
Reading for pleasure is a key indicator of a child’s future success, but if your child doesn’t love to read, what can you do? We know it’s not always easy keeping kids entertained and away from screens, so we’ve partnered with the award-winning @banjorobinson to gift you a FREE activity pack, worth £9.99.

Here’s a little look at the Banjo Robinson subscription - Troy loves it! Travelling to world with Banjo is so much fun! You can read our full review over on the blog and claim your free activity pack too - link in profile.
A whole week of Fred & George. We weren’t meant A whole week of Fred & George.

We weren’t meant to get more cats just yet but sometimes the universe sends you things when you don’t expect them.

These little guys needed a home and a family to love them. And we had a home and a lot of love to give. We still miss Leia but this pair are definitely helping make me feel whole again.

They are both used to us now, and love us. They’re less nervous, give us cuddles and let us pick them up. They’re still living in our spare room but starting to explore the rest of the house under supervision. 

They play fight constant. Love toys, especially a crinkly feather thing on a string attached to a stick, and love being up high. They are an awesome pair and we are so glad to have them.

Thank you @millbrook_rspca @rspca_official for trusting us with ‘Lonestar and Starfish’. We could not love them more. 

#catsofinstagram #catstagram #catsofig #catsofinsta #catlovers #adoptdontshop #rspcarescuecat #kittensofinstagram #kittens_of_instagram
[AD - Press Trip] I’ve just finished writing abo [AD - Press Trip] I’ve just finished writing about our half term break at @pottersresort and it’s over on the blog if you want to go have a read.

I wanted to put some of my favourite photos on the grid too as the kids did so many fun activities - they had THE best time. 

Giant swing, segways, climbing, archery, laser clays… there was so much to do that we couldn’t fit it all in - we need another trip!
And there ends our October half term - well, apart And there ends our October half term - well, apart from Troy who has a bonus week off!

This half term has been pretty lovely. Troy had his school residential the first weekend and then we had a really lovely few days in Norfolk before heading home and picking up two new members of our family - Fred and George. 11 week old rescue kittens who have pretty much stolen our hearts.

It’s been so nice to have a chunk of quality time with this pair and now I’m looking forward to the Christmas holidays. These two are the best company and I really do live for the school holidays. 

How has your half term been?
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Collaborative posts · June 28, 2021

Improving Sleep with Sleep Cycles and TEMPUR® | AD

*This is a paid post in conjunction with TEMPUR® but all thoughts are my own

I am always looking for ways to improve the quality of my sleep. As a busy working parent, I am always on the go and inevitably my bedtime ends up later than I’d like and I still have to get up early in the morning with the children. So what’s the answer?

Recently TEMPUR® have announced their new partnership with women’s road cycling team DROPS Le Col for the 2021 season, demonstrating their commitment to supporting athletes with their exercise and training schedules.

TEMPUR® has a long history of supporting athletes, who are natural allies in TEMPUR®’s mission to improve health through high-quality sleep. TEMPUR® have provided the DROPS Le Col riders with mattresses and pillows to boost rest and recovery at home plus products for the road to enhance performance during the tour too.

Improving Sleep with Sleep Cycles and TEMPUR®

As you can tell, sleep and exercise go hand in hand and I think we can learn a lot from this. You perform better in every aspect of your life when you sleep well and you also sleep better when you have regular exercise. It’s one thing I’ve learnt during the pandemic – both sleep and exercise do me a world of good.

Improving sleep with sleep cycles

Another thing I have discovered recently is how important sleep cycles are when it comes to sleep quality. I wear an activity tracker when I sleep and it shows me my complete range of sleep cycles, broken down into the four main stages of sleep.

How well I have slept, and how I feel the next day, are always in line with the sleep stages. The more REM and deep sleep I have, the better I feel and the more active I’m able to be.

What are the Sleep Cycle Stages?

Each night we have four to six sleep cycles and each one is made up of different sleep stages. Each stage has a purpose to provide you with quality rest, and each sleep cycle will vary in length through the night. Sleep cycles differ from person to person and there’s no perfect cycle for sleep. If you feel well rested, then you probably are!

The first stage of sleep is the transition between wakefulness and sleep. It’s a light sleep stage where your heartbeat, breathing rate, eye movements, and brain wave activity will gradually slow and your muscles begin to relax.

The second stage is still light sleep with your heartbeat, breathing rate, eye movements, and brain wave activity dropping to even lower levels. Your body temperature decreases significantly and eye movements stop. This is the longest of the sleep stages.

The third stage is the start of deep sleep. Heartbeat, breathing rates, and brain wave activity reduces to the lowest possible level and the muscles will relax completely. This is a longer stage than when you first fall asleep but it gradually shortens through the night.

The final stage of the sleep cycle, known as REM, will first occur about an hour and a half after you nod off. Your eyes will move rapidly beneath your eyelids and your brain will become more active. Your breathing rate increases, and your heart rate and blood pressure rise to nearer the level of wakeful periods. Dreaming mainly takes place during this stage and your muscles will be temporarily paralyzed which prevents you from physically responding to dreams

How much sleep do you need?

Most adults need between 7 and 9 hours of sleep a night to fully recover and recharge. I know that even if I have this amount of sleep, if I wake often or toss and turn during the night I won’t wake up feeling refreshed. A good chunk of quality sleep is needed to really help me reset.

I always find it harder to sleep away from home and I think this has a lot to do with having the right mattress, pillows and bedding for me at home. It’s taken me years to find the perfect products for me to really aid my sleep quality and so I miss them when we’re away.

The right mattress is really important when it comes to sleep quality. TEMPUR® mattress material was born from NASA technology. Their innovative memory foam has pressure relieving properties as well as unrivalled comfort and support giving such a great night’s sleep.

Improving Sleep with Sleep Cycles and TEMPUR®

Exercise and sleep

Exercising improves sleep quality for many people. Moderate exercise can reduce the time it takes to fall asleep and decrease the amount of time that you lie awake in bed during the night. So, by exercising you can spend more time actually asleep, helping you to feel more rested and recharged.

On the flip side, everything you do during the day requires sleep. Without sleep, and with poor quality sleep, your body will never be able to fulfill its potential. Sleep gives your body time to recover, conserve energy, and repair and build up the muscles worked during exercise.

When we get enough good quality sleep, the body produces growth hormone. During childhood and adolescence, growth hormone makes us grow and when we are older, it helps us build lean muscle and helps our body repair when we have torn ourselves up during a hard workout. This growth hormone is essential for athletic recovery.

So, as you can see, sleep and exercise go hand in hand. I go for a walk each day and I am always feeling more energetic and ready for my walk when I’ve had a good night’s sleep. The walk also really sets me up for the day and, whenever I exercise, I always sleep so much better that night too.

Over the last year or so I’ve realised a few things. I need to exercise each day whether it’s just walking on the school run or going for a jog in the afternoon, it makes me feel better. I also need to focus on getting more sleep to give my body a chance to have as much quality sleep as possible.

So I’ve brought my bedtime forward, knowing that I already get up as late as possible anyway! I’ve also started taking my pillow with me when we go away. It really does make such a difference and I feel all the better for it too.

Improving Sleep with Sleep Cycles and TEMPUR®

In: Collaborative posts

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Hi everyone! I'm Donna. Mummy. Blogger. Social Media Manager. Traveller. Lover of stars, rainbows and gin. Firm believer that tea and cake can fix most things.

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