Five bedroom decorating tips for a better night’s sleep

The bedroom tends to be far down on the priority list when it comes to interior decorating. That’s probably because the bedroom is the room few people but you see and you want to spend your interior design budget on the places in your home where guests are going to spend the most time. But believe it or not, a little interior decorating in the bedroom can actually help you catch some more z’s. Since nearly one third of all Americans will suffer from a bout of insomnia sometime this year, it’s crucial that your bedroom is conducive to getting restful sleep. Here are five bedroom decorating tips for a better night’s sleep.

Bedding

Surprise, surprise. Okay so you’re probably not too surprised to see bedding for the first tip. Your bed needs to be comfortable if you’re going to get a good night’s rest. So start with the mattress, if you’re still using the $300 mattress you bought right out of college, it’s time to splurge on a real mattress (think $1,000 or more). Mattresses can range from plush (the softest) to extra firm and different people need different levels of support in a mattress to sleep well so make sure you pick the right one for you. In addition to having a good mattress, you need a nice set of sheets. Sheets with a higher thread count will feel the nicest on your skin but keep in mind that they tend to be less breathable so they may not be ideal if you tend to sleep warm. Get a down comforter if you tend to get cold during the night.

Color

The Travelodge hotel chain was interested in finding out if the color scheme of a room could affect how much sleep people got. In a study, they found that people who slept in a room with a blue color scheme got the most rest. This finding is supported by other studies that have proved that our eyes are sensitive to the color blue and that receptors in our eyes feed this information to the part of the brain that regulates our sleep/wake cycle. If you’re not wild about the color blue, any muted cool color will do just as well, just avoid oranges, reds, and yellows.

Lighting

For every other room in the home, it’s important to allow as much natural light into the room as possible. The bedroom is the obvious exception. You should make use of heavier drapes or roller blinds that block out as much of the natural light as possible. This allows you to let in sunlight easily during the day, but block out any light at night. For the light bulbs, themselves, go with something with low wattage or better yet, get some with a dimming feature so you can lower the lights as you wind down and get ready to sleep.

Technology

Many studies have shown that melatonin levels (the hormone that affects our circadian rhythm) can be affected by the use of bright screens. So as much as you like having your smartphone or tablet right by your bedside or a TV at the foot of your bed, these technological distractions are sure to keep you up past your bedtime even after you’ve turned them off. Keep any technology with artificial light out of the bedroom and you’ll find that sleep comes easier.

Layout

Perhaps most surprising of all, the layout of the furniture in your bedroom can affect your sleep. Your bed should be centered in the room and not up against a wall so that you can climb in an out of it from either side easily. Have a bedside table on either side of the bed and make sure your bed doesn’t point towards an opening such as a door or window. It may be all in your head but for whatever reason, these layout tips really will help you get to sleep easier.

Source: news.com.au

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