From the editor: Sleep-learning.

IDON’T SLEEP very well. At least not with any regularity. It’s probably a common state of existence for many people, but I hadn’t given it too much thought until quite recently, when a couple things occurred that made me consider it a bit more deeply, and realise that it’s probably impacting how well I function during the day. First, I attended the launch of the new Fitbit Versa 2 smartwatch, a device that’s intended to improve our quality of life through a variety of interesting and cool features. What really grabbed my attention during the reveal was the sleep-monitoring functionality. I have not worn a watch in years, but that same night I decided to strap the review unit I received on to my wrist and head for bed. (Monitoring my quality of sleep was all I could think about, so, perhaps ironically, being so eager to read my sleep stats in the morning probably affected my ability to sleep well.) After waking up the next morning (as usual, before my alarm) I tapped the watch face to see my night’s sleep info: 4 h 32 min light sleep; 43 min awake; 1 h 49 min REM sleep; and 12 min deep sleep. I still need to look into it more, but that doesn’t seem too great to me, especially the 43 minutes awake part. I’ll need to keep reviewing my sleep for a number of weeks, but I’m hoping I can find ways to address this problem. Fortunately, there was one thing the watch commended me on, and that’s my resting heart rate – 53 bpm, which is apparently ‘excellent for a man of my age’. Phew.

The other thing that made me commit a bit more thought to the quality of sleep I’m getting is the interactions I’ve had recently with the team at Sloom, a new and exciting mattress company in South Africa. I realised that perhaps my old mattress has a large part to play in my average-to-poor sleep patterns, so using their online tool I’ve had a new queen extra-length mattress and two pillows delivered (all quite effortlessly) to my home. It was literally dropped off today, so my assessment process will kick-off tonight, and you can find out how it impacted my sleep performance later on in this issue (see page 52). Here’s hoping my Fitbit’s judgement of my sleep will be positive.

Luckily, it’s December, which means the stress of work for many of us will be winding down a bit soon. That in turn means more time to sleep, relax, read, braai, spend time with loved ones, and hopefully also receive some of the gifts at the end of the month you have been wishing for (if you celebrate with gift-giving at this time of year). In case you’re in need of some inspiration, or want to hint to your partner about what you’d like, turn to our bumper Gear & Gadgets section in this issue, on page 34.

That’s it from us for 2019! We hope you’ve enjoyed the mag this year, and we can’t wait to share exciting stories of how your world works in 2020.