Getting Better Sleep: Part Five

In the last blog I shared with you my day time tricks to help you get ready for better, longer sleep. This time, I want to talk with you about what you can do in your actual bedroom to promote and improve your sleep. Then, once you’ve implemented a few items, they can become your night time tricks for better sleep.

Your sleep environment may be affecting your sleep more than you realize. Is there clutter that you’ve been meaning to get to but can’t find the time? Old pictures or artwork that no longer feels soothing or positive? Furniture that isn’t to your aesthetic? How does the bed, bedding, and pillows feel? Is anything in need of replacement? Changing what you can control within your sleeping environment can make it feel more cozy and easier to relax into.

Bedroom Tricks

Let’s start with colors! Of course, you can think about what colors are your favorite and start with that. How can you incorporate more colors you like in your room? Consider changing out some bedding, adding a throw blanket, decorative pillows, make a change to curtains, painting, or adding artwork that all reflect colors that are pleasing to your eyes.

If you want a bit more than that, I can recommend an article that talks more in depth about color psychology, the meaning behind colors, and why we make the meaning we do about them here:

https://www.nickkolenda.com/color-psychology/

Check out Nick’s color table and see what words draw you in, maybe even trying out a color you wouldn’t normally pick to see if it can more positively influence you in the space.

Work: if there is a way that you can limit the activities that you do in the bedroom to being strictly of the relaxing and bedroom appropriate persuasion, do so! When possible, don’t bring your school work or business work into the bedroom, but keep it in a different designated area of your home. If you can’t avoid it, do find a way to really “put it away” at the end of the night so you don’t see it and continue to be stimulated by thoughts about work.

You may have noticed that the topic of “tidying up” is really popular right now. It makes sense to me that it is, because removing clutter promotes a stress free environment and can be additionally helpful. Organizing your room in visually appealing as well as practical ways can add positive feelings when you look around the room and just feel that everything is in it’s place, taken care of, and appreciated. This is actually a great segue to talking about Marie Kondo and her miraculous ways. If you haven’t heard of her work yet, you can look up her TV Series on Netflix or learn more about her here:

https://konmari.com/

Last thing on tidying up; remember how in the last blog I shared some ways to create bedtime rituals to help prepare you to unwind for the night? Following Marie Kondo and her ways of regularly tidying up, putting things back in their place, and experiencing gratitude towards your belongings can be a natural addition to your nightly rituals.

Let’s talk texture: are there types of textures you like to see or feel? I’m a big lover of anything uber plush; if you’ve visited my office yet, you’re already familiar with the super cozy, crazy soft blankets that I keep there for clients. Soft, gentle textures prompt us to come back into our bodies and want to actually be present with what we’re feeling. What are some ways you can add textures that you like to experience? Consider blankets, pillows, and stuffed animals as well as the kind of pajamas you might wear. Anything that touches your body is an opportunity for comfort and soothing, take it! And of course, these objects double in opportunity for you to add color, too!

Next, consider the temperature of the space you sleep in. Do you need an electric blanket for added warmth? What about a fan to circulate around the air? Cracking open a window for some fresh air? Controlling the temperature in your room for a cooler or warmer sleep can help you with less tossing and turning in the night. Though a cooler temperature between 60 and 67 degrees is what is most often recommended, that might be different for you given your specific needs for your body.

Similar to temperature is lighting; how dark or light do you need it to sleep? Again, though it is usually recommended to sleep in a completely dark room, for various reasons, you may prefer a degree of lighting in certain areas. To darken the room, definitely consider getting black out, thermal curtains and/or blinds to decrease that pesky light as well as help you to regulate temperature in your sleeping quarters. If you want to have a bit of light in your space, what is a way that you can do that while limiting it’s effect on your sleep? Play with night lights, lamps, and ceiling lights in different rooms to see how the light falls in and illuminates the room while you’re falling asleep, asleep, and waking up. What works the best for you? If you’d like the room darker but have to have a light on for someone else, consider trying out an eye mask to help block the light out for you individually. Masks can double as aromatherapy as some are made with scents like lavender right in it to help you relax.

Speaking of aromatherapy, let’s talk scent. Lavenders and vanillas are frequently used as aromatherapy for proven sleep benefits. Other scents, like tea tree oil or frankinscence, might have different properties but be soothing and relaxing to you for other reasons and have the same effect. Here it can be fun to play with the form of delivery: wall plug ins, pillow sprays, body lotions, wax warmers, essential oil diffusers, and any combination of these may be helpful.

Last but not least, let’s consider how sound may be affecting your sleep. Different homes themselves make different creaking or air flow noises at night, to say nothing of traffic, wild life, and other noises coming from outside of your home. I recommend using things you already have in your home to help create white noise to block out noises that might be distracting for you when you’re unwinding or sleeping; fans can be especially helpful for creating a soft, white noise and double for air movement. There are countless free apps you can download to create a custom sound you like best. Sounds that are most frequently reported as helpful include: static, fans, dryer, rain, ocean, other forms of water, cat purrs, city noise, and the sounds of cicadas, grass hoppers, and frogs.

Night night sleep tight

As you can see, there are a plethora of options waiting for you to make your space more comfortable. This week, consider what might be bothering you that you haven’t consciously realized and set a time to address one or two items. Pick out a few things you’d like to add to your sleepy time space and try them out as well. If you’re not ready to invest financially in trying something but are interested, see if you can make do with something you already own or can make yourself such as borrowing a throw blanket from the living room, creating your own art, or putting a smelly good closer to your bedside table. See what you think and what could be better, and you can always buy something special for yourself later once you know for sure what you want.

I hope you are as excited as I am to work towards getting better sleep at night. We just have one more blog left to address: technological distractions! Next week, we’ll explore this issue together and wrap up the series. Get some rest and I’ll see you on the flip side!