Friday is World Sleep Day, which aims to promote sleep health.
Image: Niels from Slaapwijsheid./P
FRIDAY is World Sleep Day, which aims to promote sleep health. The annual event is organised by the World Sleep Day Committee of the World Sleep Society, formerly the World Association of Sleep Medicine, and its goal is to celebrate the benefits of good and healthy sleep.
It also aims to draw society's attention to the burden of sleep problems and their medical, educational, and social aspects, and to promote the prevention and management of sleep disorders.
This year's theme is: Sleep Well, Live Better.
Sleep is increasingly recognised as one of the most powerful drivers of human health. From cognitive performance and emotional wellbeing to immune strength and long-term physical health, the quality of our sleep influences almost every aspect of our lives. Yet despite this growing understanding, the way most people choose a mattress has remained surprisingly outdated.
For decades, consumers have been encouraged to lie on a bed for a few minutes and decide whether it feels firm, medium or plush. It sounds logical - but sleep science increasingly suggests that this may be one of the least reliable ways to choose a mattress.
Feel is experienced instantly. Support is experienced over eight hours. What you feel in the first few seconds has very little to do with how your body will be supported throughout the night. Foam layers often influence the immediate feel of a mattress, but it is the spring system beneath the surface that provides the structural support required to maintain spinal alignment and reduce pressure on the body while you sleep.
Understanding this distinction is beginning to change how the world thinks about sleep.
In South Africa, the Kiran Sales Group, with more than 40 years of mattress manufacturing experience, is helping lead that shift.
Prasanth Seevnarayan, the CEO of Lylax Bedding and Serta South Africa, leads one of the country’s most progressive forces in the sleep industry.
Lylax forms part of Kiran Sales (Pty) Ltd, a proudly South African business that has built a reputation for quality manufacturing and innovation. Under his leadership, the company continues to evolve the science of sleep through concepts such as the “Best of Both” philosophy, combining advanced comfort technologies with the support systems essential for restorative, healthy sleep.
The Best of Both™️, a patented spring system developed by the Kiran Sales Group, combines two globally proven technologies - Miracoil and mini pocket springs - into a single engineered support structure. The Miracoil system provides continuous structural support, while pocket springs respond individually to the body’s contours, delivering both pressure relief and stability. The result is a mattress architecture designed not around how a bed feels in a showroom, but how it supports the body throughout the entire sleep cycle.
Understanding Best of Both™️ also brings attention to something many consumers overlook - the critical role of the spring system itself. While Best of Both™️ represents the flagship innovation, technologies such as Miracoil, pocket coil and other engineered spring systems each provide varying levels of support designed to suit different needs and budgets. Even entry-level spring systems, when properly engineered, can provide meaningful support for restorative sleep. The key is understanding that support - not just feel - is the foundation of comfort.
This shift in thinking is also reshaping how people buy mattresses. Spending five minutes lying on a bed in a showroom cannot accurately predict how it will support the body over eight hours of sleep. Once consumers understand the importance of support systems and mattress engineering, making an informed decision becomes far easier - often through carefully curated online platforms where technology and education guide the process.
Reflecting this confidence, the flagship Best of Both™️ technology will be available exclusively through a select group of online retailers.
The Kiran Sales Group also manufactures Serta, one of the world’s most recognised mattress brands and a long-standing partner of the National Sleep Foundation in the United States. Locally, its products are endorsed by the Chiropractic Association of South Africa, reinforcing the importance of proper spinal support in achieving restorative sleep.
This World Sleep Day, the message is simple: better sleep begins with better understanding. And from South Africa, the Kiran Sales Group is helping redefine the future of sleep - through innovation, education and technology designed to support the body where it matters most.