Creating the Perfect Sleep Environment In Your Bedroom

A good night’s sleep is extremely important for your health, but who doesn’t know that? Just like our diet, our shut-eye time is getting poor as well. Simply knowing that sleep is important is not enough. Making actual efforts to improve and increase your sleep time is how you will effectively improve your health.

So, why do you need a perfect sleep environment? We spend a third of our total lifetime sleeping and tend to spend a lot more time in our beds than anywhere else in the house. So, it only makes sense you improve your sleeping environment in as many ways as possible. A good night’s sleep will promote your physical health, work performance and mental focus. Here are a few factors that can help you perfect your sleep every night:

Keep It Dark

Your body’s clock, or circadian rhythm, likes to match with the Earth’s clock. This is why we work during light hours and sleep during dark hours. Any light in your room during nighttime can reduce melatonin levels in your body. Melatonin is the hormone that induces sleep, the lack of which can cause a disruptive night. Even small light sources from clocks, charging laptops and TV lights can affect your sleep. Tape up all of these small lights or wear an eye mask to bed.

Stay Cool

You also need to maintain the perfect temperature in your room to get a good sleep. When you are sleeping, your body’s temperature drops a little, regardless of what the temperature of your room us. If you are room is too hot or too cold, the quality of your REM sleep is affected. In a study, a group of people suffering from insomnia were given cooling caps to reduce their overall body temperature. It turned out to be so effective that these insomniacs were able to sleep as well as people without sleep disorders. It just goes to show how important temperature is for sleeping.

A recommended temperature of 62^o to 68^oF should be maintained. Other than maintaining your room’s temperature, also make sure your bedding doesn’t make you too hot or too cold. If it gets too cold in your area, wear socks. If it gets too hot, put an ice pack on your forehead or behind your neck.

Get a Good Mattress

This is a no-brainer. If you are not comfortable, you are hardly going to get any rest. Sometimes it’s hard to identify this problem till we sleep on another mattress, such as while travelling, and realize the difference. So, if you are planning to get a new mattress, get it from somewhere where it can be returned. This way, you can test the waters and if it doesn’t pass the test you can return it and try another one. Try to opt for an organic mattress made up of inert materials.

The above tips are a good place to start for making the perfect sleeping environment. However, you know your room the best, so try to figure out all problem areas, such as noise, ventilation, etc, and remedy the situation.