Steps to Get a Great Night Sleep in Your Bedroom - Dispatch Weekly

The human body needs at least eight hours of sleep to function at optimal levels. Lack of sleep makes the body fatigued and gets it off balance. Chronic lack of sleep comes with more severe effects, including a higher risk of susceptibility to chronic conditions such as heart disease.

While many factors may deprive you of your much-needed sleep, an unaccommodating sleeping environment is one of the top culprits. The body needs an ideal environment to power down for sleep. Unfortunately, there are too many distractions and unaccommodating factors in most people’s bedrooms.

Fortunately, this is easy to remedy. Here are some tips to help you create the perfect sleeping environment.

1. Get Rid of the Clutter

On average, people spend about a third of their lives in their bedrooms. They ideally should spend this time sleeping, but they use it on all sorts of other stuff. Some people take their work home, some exercise, and most-watched – simply put: bedrooms serve more than one purpose today.

The desk, computer, TV, treadmill, and other stuff that shouldn’t be in the bedroom need to go. Clean it all out and leave the bare essentials only: bed, nightstand, and standard bedroom furniture.

The physical clutter is only half of it – you also need to get rid of the mental clutter. This means conditioning your mind to associate the bedroom with sleeping only, not catching up on work or a favorite episode.

2. No Electronics Beyond This Point!

Electronics are a huge distraction. Most people take their phones, tablets, and laptops to bed for a variety of reasons: to watch, browse, chat, work, and more. They end up spending more time on their gadgets than sleeping. This is because electronics actively block sleep. It also doesn’t help that these gadgets are addictive – it is easy to get lost in the virtual world until the sun comes up.

Electronics emit a blue light that mimics natural daylight. This blue light inhibits the production of melatonin, the hormone necessary to put the body to sleep.

It may seem difficult, but you should ditch all electronics – nothing but the bare essentials, remember? If you must take the phone with you, put it face-down on the nightstand. That TV on the wall also counts as an electronic!

3. A Cushy, Dreamy Bed

You should ideally spend a third of your life on your bed, sleeping and recharging to make the most of the other two-thirds. Your bed should be flawlessly comfortable, don’t you think?

Get a mattress that is ergonomically designed to facilitate comfortable sleeping. Everything should be just right: soft fabrics and sponge, ergonomic sleeping positions, and more! The beddings, pillows, and other accessories should also be just as good as the mattress.

What makes one mattress better than another? There are many factors to consider. It all may seem mind-boggling for an average shopper, but this mattress shopping guide will help you get the mattress of your dreams!

4. Dark, Cool & Quiet Does It

The body needs a dark environment to produce the sleeping hormone melatonin, as explained earlier. Kill all the lights at least one hour before going to bed. You should also improvise to keep the street lights out. You may also experiment with mellow lighting designed to facilitate sleeping.

The body also needs a cool environment, with temperatures ranging between 60 and 67 degrees. The body itself cools down when preparing for sleep, so a cool environment helps expedite the process.

Noise, like light, also disrupts the brain and inhibits sleep. Your bedroom should ideally be as quiet as space. This, however, is not always possible, especially if you leave in a noisy neighborhood. If this is the case, try improvising using noise-proof walls for your bedroom.

Tip: It is not noise in general that disrupts sleep, but rather the inconsistencies in sounds. To this end, consistent sounds, such as whale music, are actually helpful for people having trouble sleeping.

Tip: If you believe that you cannot sleep with music in the background, put it on a timer so that it automatically turns off after you sleep. Different songs have varying sound notes, and it is these inconsistencies that will wake you up in the middle of the night.

5. Mellow, Relaxing Colors All-Around

Colors invoke different feelings and reactions. They also influence the production of certain hormones in the brain.

Research shows that certain colors (or blends of colors) help the body relax, thus facilitating sleep. Ideal colors for this include blue, green, and yellow. The colors grey, purple, and brown don’t help. At the end of the day, however, it is your tastes and preferences that matter most.

Quick and Simple

It doesn’t take a team of professionals to turn your bedroom into a sleeping haven, as illustrated in this guide. As such, get down to it – start with hunting for a gentle mattress for a gentle sleeping experience!