Create the Perfect Sleep Environment
The conditions in which you sleep can influence whether you have a restful night’s sleep or not. Research indicates that your sleeping environment has a significant impact on the quality of your sleep.
Since sleep quality and duration affect other aspects of your health, a bedroom that promotes sleep can also improve how you feel during the day.
The best sleep environment is an area that’s cool, quiet, and dark with a comfortable space to lie down. Whether that’s in your bedroom, a hotel, or even a friend’s sofa, optimising the environment for sleep can help you get a better night’s rest.
See these 8 simple tips for creating the perfect sleep environment for you:
Make Your Room Darker
Melatonin is a hormone that naturally occurs and promotes sleep; light slows down its production. Because of this, maintaining a dark bedroom is crucial to setting up a comfortable sleeping environment.
When it gets closer to bedtime, turn down the lights in your room to tell your brain it’s time to shut down for the evening. Reduce your exposure to blue light as well. Turn off devices with screens, such as computers and TVs, and switch your smartphone to “nighttime” mode. Even with your room lights out, prolonged exposure to blue light can cause sleeplessness. Make sure you utilise blackout curtains or blinds so that your bedroom remains dark all through the night.
Reduce the temperature.
Your body temperature naturally drops when you go to sleep, which helps to trigger the sleep-inducing process. Maintaining a cool bedroom helps you fall and stay asleep by encouraging this natural process.
Different people need slightly different temperatures to sleep, so try out different temperatures to find what is right for you. Experts generally agree that a temperature of around 18 degrees Celsius is ideal for good sleep.
Clear out the clutter
To help your body start to relax, keep your bedroom neat and clear of any potential distractions. Things like busy art, important work papers, or even a treadmill can be stressful reminders of your responsibilities that can keep you from falling asleep. Instead, try to keep your room clutter-free and simple in terms of decoration.
Find the perfect pillow
A good rule of thumb is to get a new pillow every one to two years to maintain good spinal alignment while you sleep.
When picking out a pillow, think about how you sleep when choosing the firmness. Thin pillows are usually preferred by stomach sleepers, medium-support pillows are ideal for back sleepers, and heavier pillows are preferred by side sleepers. Hypoallergenic covers are an additional choice if you have asthma or allergies, protecting you from any allergens that can aggravate your symptoms.
Pick a Mattress and Bedding Set That Feels Good
Choosing the kind of mattress, sheets, and bedding that you find most comfortable is essential for a good night’s sleep. Your preferred mattress may vary depending on how you sleep, if you share a bed, and whether you get hot easily while you’re asleep.
Think about what you put on top of your bed too. Selecting a comfortable mattress cover or sheet set makes it easier falling asleep and lessens the chance of you waking up in the middle of the night due to being too hot or too cold. Check out how different sheets or blankets feel to find the ones you like best.
Reduce Noise
Reducing noise levels in the bedroom at night will help you sleep more deeply and reduce the likelihood that you waking up, A calm night’s sleep is far more likely in a quiet setting.
Think about buying devices that help to muffle or lessen annoying sounds if you have noisy neighbours or if you live on a busy street. You should also try to put your bed away from windows that face the street or shared walls.
Place your bed away from shared walls and windows that face the street, and consider using a white noise recording.
Use essential oils
Given that we associate scents with feelings and memories, it should come as no surprise that smell affects how we feel. Essential oils for sleep are a great way to de-stress, unwind, and eventually fall asleep. Aromatherapy using essential oils is a fast and affordable way to help you relax both mentally and physically if you have trouble sleeping. The most widely used oils to promote sleep are lavender and vanilla, which can be used with an aromatherapy diffuser to spread into the bedroom.
Use calming colours
Because it creates a peaceful atmosphere, colour has a profound impact on our mood and can improve the quality of our sleep. According to research, blue is the colour that promotes the finest sleep in a bedroom, followed by yellow, green, and silver. Instead of using vibrant colours, which might fool the brain into believing it has to be on alert, try sticking to muted, pastel, or neutral hues.