Good Sleep Hygiene Starts in the Bedroom

Sleeping well is crucial for your physical and mental health. Therefore, it's important to adopt habits that support good sleep hygiene. You can start with organizing your bedroom.

There are many habits that contribute to good sleep hygiene. Adapting your bedroom is one of them. In fact, although many overlook it, a well-ordered room, a comfortable bed, and even lighting contribute to good rest.

However, why is it so important to sleep well? Well, although many ignore it, sleep plays a major role in maintaining your well-being. Not only does it allow you to recharge your body, but it also intervenes in your cognitive, emotional, and physical functions.

In light of this, it’s important to have a suitable space for rest, with an environment that promotes your transition from wakefulness to sleep. Here are some recommendations.

Adapting your bedroom to help you sleep

Insomnia and difficulty staying asleep can be caused by many factors. Worries, anxiety, the use of mobile devices, the consumption of stimulants, and excessively long naps can all reduce the quality of your rest.

Similarly, going to sleep in a messy and uncomfortable bedroom is also detrimental. Indeed, if your body and mind are unable to relax in this space, you’ll find it difficult to fall asleep for the recommended amount of time (between seven and eight hours a day). What can you do about it?

Organize your bedroom

The starting point for promoting good sleep hygiene in your bedroom involves keeping everything in order. Because creating a clean, minimalist, and pleasant environment favors sensations of pleasure and relaxation, and  promotes visual rest.

What can you do?

• If you don’t have much space, choose functional beds or folding sofas. Their main feature is that they have an interior storage space in which various objects can be stored which helps keep the room tidy.
• Avoid choosing furniture that takes up a lot of space. Ideally, there should be enough space to move around comfortably.
• Avoid obstructing passageways with clothes, shoes, or other items. Remember that you can order them on the folding sofas or also on shelves, cabinets, or in storage baskets.
• Make sure you clean daily. Dust and dirt accumulated in your bedroom not only prevents good sleep hygiene but can also lead to allergies or health problems.

Ensure you have a comfortable bed

When it comes to a good night’s sleep, comfort is essential. For this reason, if the bed isn’t providing enough comfort, you must change it. Both the mattress and the pillows should generate a feeling of relaxation when you’re lying down. There are currently a wide variety of designs, materials, and technologies available to meet the needs of each and every person.

Choose the right lighting

This is a detail that’s often ignored. Nevertheless, it’s pretty important. The ideal would be that there aren’t too many external light sources. Therefore, if your bedroom has windows, it’s best to put up curtains or blinds to block out any outside lighting that filters in at night.

To give a feeling of warmth and harmony to your bedroom, you can choose between different types of lights. For example, ambient light allows soft lighting and isn’t obtrusive. Ceiling lights illuminate a little more, but you can opt for low-intensity bulbs. Other options are lamps (for specific lighting) or strips of small light bulbs.

Move electronic devices away

It’s been proven that the use of technological devices (cellphones, computers, televisions, etc.) before sleeping affects problems such as insomnia. Although the mechanisms aren’t entirely clear, some hypotheses suggest that its use in bed alters the production of melatonin – a sleep hormone – or creates electromagnetic fields that affect rest.

Therefore, if your goal is to sleep better, the ideal is to avoid the use of these devices at least 30 minutes before going to bed. As far as possible, you should leave them outside your bedroom.

Final recommendations to promote sleep hygiene

Beyond taking care of the order, comfort, and lighting of your bedroom, you should also consider other environmental aspects, such as removing any sources of annoying noise, ventilating your bedroom daily, and adjusting the temperature. Together, these factors will help create the right environment for a good rest.