With all of today’s modern stresses and strains, it can be hard to get a full night of sleep every night. Financial concerns, relationships, home maintenance, worrying about your children - all of these things can keep you up at night. Sleep is incredibly important to our wellbeing, as important as food or drink, and sleep deprivation can lead to long-term physical and mental health problems.
If you aren’t getting enough sleep at night then you need to tackle the problem. Your bedroom should be a temple of rest and relaxation. You should be able to retreat to your bedroom after a long and stressful day, confident that you will soon drift away into a long and restful sleep. Here are four upgrades anyone can make to their home to make it, and their bedroom, more sleep-friendly.
Get Blackout Blinds for Sleeping
The human body gets the most rest when in total darkness. Even a small crack of light coming through the window can be disruptive to your sleep according to Matt White from Blindstyle. This isn’t usually a problem in the dead of night unless you have a street light positioned outside your window, but the light of early dawn can wake you before your alarm does.
Blackout blinds are great for giving you the pitch-black darkness your body needs to sleep. Some people try to save money on blackout blinds by using trash bags and duct tape, but this is a big mistake that can damage window frames and reduce your options. Splash out on some blackout blinds that are removable; this way, you can put them up when you need them at night but still get sunlight in the room throughout the day.
Get a Better Bed and Mattress
One of the simplest steps you can take towards a better night of sleep is to invest in a better bed and mattress. Queen sized beds and mattresses should be replaced regularly, with most mattresses needing to be replaced every five to eight years. A broken bed frame can also keep you up at night, and reduce the quality of sleep you get.
Mattresses are massively important to your quality of sleep, and many people are sleeping on the wrong type of mattress for them. A soft mattress may seem preferable but will make you toss and turn during the night. If a mattress is too hard, you will struggle to get to sleep in the first place. Get a mattress with memory foam for the best of both worlds. They offer the comfort and support you need to get a good night of sleep.
Remove Electronic Devices from the Room
In these times, your rooms are probably filled with electronic devices that can be a distraction that keeps you up at night. Having a television in the room where you sleep can greatly reduce the number of hours rest you regularly get. Not only are you likely to stay up binge-watching the latest shows, but the light from devices can also keep you up even when they are off.
Alarm clocks may seem like a good idea to help get you out of bed in the morning, but the glow from the clock’s lights or the ticking of the clock if you have a retro alarm clock, can prevent you from getting to sleep easily at night. Try to remove as many electronic devices as you can from your sleep space, and consider placing alarm clocks out of sight.
Get Better Air at Night
The quality of the air you breathe while you sleep can have a big influence on the amount and quality of the sleep you get at night. Having cleaner and more oxygenated air while you rest has been proven to promote deeper, REM sleep and even make dreams more vivid and memorable.
Plants are a great way to purify the air we breathe and increase oxygen levels in the air. Jasmine is known for a pleasant scent that helps relax muscles and the mind and is the perfect plant for a windowsill or bedside table. Aloe Vera is another plant that is handy to have in the home for a number of reasons, but one of them is the purifying effect it has on air; removing toxins and increasing oxygen levels.
With just one or two of our tips, you could change the way you sleep and make a huge impact on your waking life with better rest and relaxation at night.