How to get more sleep by making small changes at home
Research shows a long and undisturbed night’s sleep is good for your health. According Centre for Human Sleep Science, at the University of California, Berkeley, getting in a good eight hours of sleep promotes good health and longevity.
Maximising comfort in our bedrooms and keeping them dark to establish good habits are just two of the following ways life at home can be tweaked to keep sleep loss to a minimum.
Choose hues that soothe
Use the power of colour to create the mood for sound sleep. In this room, tones of grey are layered for a calming design that’s also rich in detail.
Greys can be cool in tone, so look for those with a yellow or pink base for a cosy room, and avoid blue-based versions.
Supersize the bed
When sleeping with a partner, the bigger your bed is, the better it is when it comes to sleeping undisturbed. Need to test the width of your bed or try a new one for size? Partners should lie down together arms behind heads. For comfortable sleeping, elbows shouldn’t touch.
Ban the TV
Sorry, but a television in the bedroom won’t help in the quest for good shut-eye, since the light emanating from it delays the release of sleep-inducing melatonin. If a bedroom TV is essential in your household, allow half an hour between viewing and sleep time to start the countdown to a good night’s rest.
Ban mobile phones too
A charging station well away from the bedroom, such as this shelf-and-outlet combo, can get you in the habit of plugging in your mobile elsewhere overnight. Of course, if it’s a mobile alarm that rouses you, a substitute is required.
Go back to the 20th century with a clock radio or add vintage style with an alarm clock with bells on top.
Set the mood
Bring darkness to the room with a window treatment that blocks light completely, such as shutters or blackout blinds.
Change the mattress
Once your mattress starts causing aches and pains or giving you the unrested feeling when you wake up. You should invest in a new one, whether that’s a box spring, platform or foundation.
It’s worth buying the base and the mattress at the same time or, if the base is still good, ensure that the new mattress is suitable for the existing support.
Raise your temperature
According to the National Sleep Foundation, a drop in body temperature makes us feel sleepy. Taking a warm bath or shower before heading into a cooler bedroom can bring on quicker and better sleep.
Turn down the heat
Keeping a bedroom too warm can cause restless sleep because the temperature of the space interferes with the natural dip in body temperature that occurs at night.
Ideally your room temperature should be between 15.6’ and 19.4’C for healthy sleep.
Keep office hours
When a bedroom has to double as a home office, the boundary between the two can blur. To help avoid job creep, steal the style of this room and opt for a desk that allows a laptop to be tidied away, leaving it as an attractive piece of furniture without work reminders on display.
Even when working from home, know off on time and spend time with your family or friends. It will help take you mind away from work and help you relax for a better sleep.
Tell us: Enjoyed this article? Tell us what other property related topics we should blog on.
And while you’re here, take our mortgage shredder challenge and discover how much you can save on your home and investment loans by using loansHub technology as your personal mortgage manager. To read more insightful articles, click here.
This article via Houzz does not constitute advice; readers should seek independent and personalised counsel from a trusted adviser that specialises in property, a tax accountant and property design specialist.