Your bedroom is where you should feel your most comfortable and safe, as well as relaxed, and rested. However, some design choices may lower the quality of your sleep or even make it difficult to fall asleep at all. Make sure your bedroom design is supportive of a good night’s sleep; we break it down for you.
1 | Bright Overhead Lights
When you’re exposed to light at night, your body can become confused. Your circadian rhythm depends on cues to tell it what time of day it is and whether you should be awake or sleeping. When you see light, especially bright light, that’s a signal it’s daytime (alert time), even when you should be winding down to get to sleep. Bright overhead lights can be especially harsh. Consider getting dimmable lights so you can turn them down at night, or switch to softer lamps that point below eye level in the evening.
2 | Breezy Curtains
A light, breezy look is popular, but you need good window coverage to keep light out at night. Indoor lights are a source of circadian rhythm light confusion, and lights from outdoors such as headlamps, street lights, or even the moon can have an impact as well. If you like the breezy look, you can still have it along with blackout curtains that can cut out light appropriately: just take a trick from the page of hotels and put a breezy, sheer curtain in front of a panel of blackout curtains. You can pull the blackout curtains back in the morning to let the light in (and get a shot of bright morning light to help reinforce daytime for your circadian rhythm).
3 | Bright, Bold Colors, And Patterns
Bold looks can be beautiful and powerful, but a more muted look is more appropriate for the bedroom. Relaxation from neutrals, blues, and simple patterns (if there are any patterns at all) is helpful in the bedroom. Bold looks can be too exciting, busy, and distracting when you’re trying to wind down and sleep. Save the big statements for another room that’s not focused on relaxation.
4 | Bedroom Televisions
You may have an entertainment center in mind, or just plan to place a TV on top of your dresser. Think carefully about this choice, as a TV in the bedroom can be detrimental to sleep. The blue light emitted by TV screens and other screens including mobile devices is yet another source of light that can interfere with healthy sleep timing. Screen exposure should be eliminated at least one hour before you go to bed.
Read More: 4 Reasons That Will Inspire You To Go For a Gadget-Free Bedroom
5 | Poorly Sized Mattresses
Everyone has their own particular mattress needs, and those needs don’t necessarily match up with design trends. You may have a small bedroom and think you need a small bed to go with it, but if you share your bed with a partner, pets, children, or any combination, you can easily run short on space and need a larger bed. Choose a mattress that’s the right size for your needs, even if it means cutting back on other furniture to make room.
As the place where you sleep and get the rest you need to face each day with energy, your bedroom is the most important room in your house. Spend time considering how your design choices may impact your sleep quality, and carefully choose elements that will help you relax and get healthy sleep each night.