A sleep-friendly bedroom starts with the best mattress, that's a given. But it's also essential to pay attention to other elements of your bedroom design. Our bodies sense that it's time for bed based on our physical environment, so the light, sounds, and temperature in your bedroom can directly relate to your ability to fall and stay asleep.
Bedrooms are meant to be for sleeping. Any other activity, be it working, watching TV, or even eating, can cause our brains to dissociate the space from sleep. So, if you're suffering from poor sleep, why not reclaim your bedroom and to set it up for snoozing?
See more bedroom ideas for every space, style and budget in our dedicated gallery.
6 sleep-friendly bedroom tips and buys
Implement these tips and you'll soon find your sleep-friendly bedroom to be the respite it deserves to be – and you'll improve your sleep in no time.
1. Create an environment that you want to sleep in
First things first, it's important to create your dream bedroom set up, with the bed serving as the foundation to a great night's sleep. Start by considering if it's time to replace any bedding.
Mattress experts suggest you replace your mattress every seven to 10 years, while pillows should be replaced every one to two years. Sheets depend on how often you rotate them around and wash, but those also should be replaced annually.
See: Best pillows – our pick of the top buys to make your bed a haven
2. Control the lighting
While a bright, airy bedroom is more than welcome during the day, come bedtime, a good set of blackout or privacy curtains can make the difference between falling right asleep and being distracted by outside lights. Same with in the morning, being greeted with daylight streaming in or waking up in the darkness comes down to personal preference. However, if you're easily distracted by light when you're sleeping, it can disrupt sleep cycles. Then, you should work to adjust harsh overhead lights with dimmers, removing objects that emit light like LED clocks or devices with sound.
Before bed, overhead lights can be a little too stimulating, and dim bedside lighting will create the right ambiance as you pull yourself into bed.
Whether you dislike waking up in darkness, or the complete opposite, these products can help.
3. Mute noisy distractions
Whether it's noise from outside or you can hear the activities of other members of your household who haven't gotten ready for bed yet, noise can be a serious distraction. Ear plugs are useful at blocking sound, but white noise sound machines can help create a soothing experience.
4. Create the right climate for sleeping
According to the Sleep Foundation, the ideal temperature for sleeping is 65 degrees Fahrenheit (18.3 degrees Celsius) but sleeping between 60 to 67 degrees Fahrenheit (15.6 to 19.4 degrees Celsius) will keep you comfortable. Turning the thermostat down at night may help with temperature regulation and signal your body that it’s time for bed.
Portable fans are excellent for keeping you comfortable on warm evenings but rarely do they fit in with a bedroom's desired ambiance. A ceiling fan is also useful to keep you cooler at night, and in summer months, an open window promotes the circulation of fresh air.
If you're truly looking to commit, Google's Nest Thermostat system will revolutionize how you cool and heat your home, and may even lower your energy bill. But most importantly, when you combine a Nest Thermostat and a temperature sensor, you can sleep with your room cool, and elevate the temperature of the unoccupied spaces in your home while you sleep.
5. Remove signs of work, clutter, and even technology
Keep anything that can cause distractions out of the bedroom, which can seem quite tricky, and even vague, since its easy to see these behaviors as harmless.
Working, leaving clutter like mail or clothes out, and yes, our technology, can distract us, cause our brains to dissociate the space with sleep, and in some cases, interrupt our sleep.
If it can be avoided, refrain from keeping a desk in your bedroom, or at least one that you use as your main work area. And if possible, place all unnecessary electronics in a different room at night. A beep from a notification or if the screen wakes can interrupt light sleepers and make it difficult to fall back asleep.
Another big no: working in bed. We've all done it at some point, and it's even a nasty habit to break. Not only is it bad for your posture, but working in bed all-day will make it harder to fall asleep.
6. And if you can't forgo a television (or other tech) in the bedroom...
Some already have the discipline (or make the design choice) to keep a TV out of the bedroom. Others, like myself, find it ritualistic to watch TV curled up in bed or scroll through the internet or social media on a phone or laptop right before going to sleep.
You see, the artificial lights from watching TV, or any screen time, really, from phones and computers, can disrupt your body's Melatonin production, making you less ready to fall asleep. The good news is that many newer TVs, as well as cell-phones and computers, offer blue light settings where the filter adjusts the tone of the light emitted from the screen to a warmer tone, which helps.
The blue light features help, but its not just the screen that can disrupt sleep, but the light that emits from sensors when off.
So, yes, removing the TV from your bedroom will help improve your sleep, but if that's not an option, there are countless ways so you can make your tv more discreet to blend in with a space, or hide from sight, or reduce the impact from blue light right before bed.
Now you know more about how to sleep better, we wish you a quiet night.
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