The Traveling Tradeoff and How To Beat It

Posted by Andrea Reyes on
Nov 23, 2022

The traveling tradeoff is an especially challenging one. It’s the realization that - although we all love to travel - we have to sacrifice some level of our sleep quality to do it. While it applies to any kind of travel, the tradeoff is especially costly when it comes to long term travel - like if you were traveling coast to coast in an RV. Let’s explore why the traveling tradeoff happens, and what you can do to beat it!

What It Is

The traveling tradeoff is the universal law that we get the best sleep in our natural environments. Whether that’s a bed in your home, apartment, or any other place: it’s yours. The place you sleep more often than anywhere else is where you’ll get the best rest, right? Well, that’s precisely why traveling comes with a tradeoff! You might get to enjoy new places, see new things, and eat cool food, but it’ll ultimately come at the cost of your sleep quality.

Why It Happens

The traveling trade off occurs because of one simple fact: familiarity. So much of sleep quality is reliant on us being familiar - and therefore comfortable - in our beds. We’ve had many nights to get used to one environment, how it feels, and travel sleep just doesn’t live up to that same standard. It might be okay for a few nights, but it simply isn’t optimal to sleep in a third-party environment for weeks or months on end!

Beating The Tradeoff

Now that we understand what the travel tradeoff is, let’s dive into some ways that you can overcome it. Some of these tips will be focused on best-practices that you can implement to improve sleep quality, while others will be environment-centric tips that will accomplish the same. Let’s dive right in!

Sleep Strategically

Our first tip is to sleep strategically. That can mean a variety of things, so let’s hone in on a few specifics. When you’re traveling, treat your bed as a sleep-only zone. That means you’re not allowed to lay in bed while reading, browsing your email, or doing anything other than sleeping. This will help generate an associative link between your bed and sleep. While it may only be for a short while, it can help improve how quickly you fall asleep while on the road.

Do as the Locals Do

This tip extends more towards travel across time-zones, and can help your body adjust to a new clock more quickly. Once you arrive at a destination, try to sync up to its unique schedule. When the people are out and about in the morning, try and get yourself out too. If the local people are gearing up for bed, then you should try and wrap things up as well. Unless your stay is only two days long (or even shorter), keeping in line with local activity patterns will help your body readjust.

Get an RV Mattress

Our last piece of advice is to invest in an RV mattress! If you’re on the road for weeks on end, sleeping in an RV-specialized mattress can transform your rest and help you feel recharged each day. Here are some core benefits of a gel-based RV mattresses:

Breathability

Gel memory foam technology can actually regulate temperature throughout the night. It does this through reactive breathability; when your body gets hot, our mattresses disperse that heat to reintroduce a cooling feeling. This can be useful on the road where it can get especially hot in certain areas.

Support

The next core benefit of a gel-based RV mattress is the signature support and stability that memory foam is known for! Since we infuse gel with traditional memory foam, our products offer all the same features you love of memory-based mattresses. With optimal neck and back support, you can travel forever without suffering achy strains and soreness ever again.

Wrapping Up

At Dynasty Mattress, we’ve worked hard to design a class of RV mattresses that are made with cutting edge gel-memory foam technology! These products not only offer best-in-class materials and quality, but they’re also robust in size and price to help cater to your unique needs.