Bedroom design ideas
These bedroom design ideas will help you to
create the ideal sleep environment that induces a feeling of calm and restive
state.
Temperature
The ideal temperature for sleep is 18 – 21
degrees Celsius, so depending on your location, does your room need a fan,
heating or air-conditioning? Air flow is also important. Opening your window,
even just a crack, will allow fresh air to circulate while you sleep.
Your bed
Your choice of bed has a huge impact on the
quality of your sleep. Mattresses have a 7 to 8 year life. Does yours need
replacing? Your bed should be comfortable and suit your body’s requirements.
The same with your choice of pillow, though these have a much shorter life than
mattresses. Think of all that drool…
Your choice of bed linen will also affect
your sleep. Scratchy blankets and a quilt or doona that isn’t warm enough (or
is too warm) won’t offer you a restful sleep.
Bedroom furniture
Symmetry and balance
We all like things to be balanced and
ordered. To create a harmonious bedroom space, place a small bedside table or
drawers on both sides of the bed. Nice and symmetrical. Drawers are great for
hiding away the clutter and if the things you need before or during the night
are nearby, you won’t have to get out of bed to retrieve them. This means you
can avoid that waking feeling as you stumble around looking for your glass of
water.
Eliminate clutter from your sleep
environment. Do you have enough storage in your bedroom and wardrobe? Can you
clear things away and invest in some clever storage? Sleep experts also say
that bedrooms should only be used for sleeping and sex, so get and keep your TV
and laptop out of there.
Plants and other things from nature,
and pictures of the natural environment may also help you sleep better.
Light and lighting
You need thick, dark curtains that will
block out daylight and other environmental light such as street lights. If you
have already invested in drapes, you can add block-out curtain liners behind
your drapes for extra darkness.
Sleep experts suggest that to get a good
nights sleep you need to sleep in the darkest possible room.
Warm, ambient light suggests to our bodies
that the sun is setting and it’s time to get ready for sleep. The blue light
our LCD screens emit suggest daylight, so you may find it harder to fall asleep
if you attempt to sleep straight after working on your laptop, watching TV or
using your phone. Blue light shifts your body’s natural circadian rhythm. Try
turning off any blue light an hour before bedtime and use lights from the warm
colour spectrum such as lamps with a warm yellow, gold or red light. A 2012
study found that 2 hours of iPad use before bed decreased melatonin levels (the
sleep hormone) by a whopping 23%!
Get rid of or turn off any appliance that
gives off light or blinks.
Colour
Cool colours such as blues, greens and
greys are believed to reduce your heart rate, lower blood pressure, and promote
better sleep. Specifically, muted and pastel shades of blues and greens work
best for inducing a calm, restful state. Avoid warm colours such as reds,
oranges and yellows as these are said to increase the heart rate, deepen your
breathing and increase your blood pressure. Not a great combination for
inducing a sleepy state.
Sound
White noise or some kind of continuous
background noise can block out other noise and make sure you have a more
restful sleep. I use an air filter in my bedroom and it provides just enough
white noise to dull other household and outdoor sounds that it helps me to
sleep. You could use a fan or download a white noise app and set the sounds of
a flowing river or waterfall as your background noise.
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