Creating a bedroom to promote healthy sleeping habits
If the average lifespan of a UK adult is roughly 81 years, according to ONS figures published in 2021, and healthy adults need approximately 8 hours of sleep a night, that would mean that we spend at least 236,520 hours or 27 years of our lives asleep. And that is not including all the time that we spend trying to fall asleep. Given that most of us spend the majority of our sleeping hours in the bedroom, it’s vitally important that this room is conducive to a good night’s sleep. Studies have shown that our sleeping environment has a meaningful impact on our sleeping patterns and the quality of our sleep is a major factor for health and wellbeing. So how can we ensure that we create a bedroom that promotes healthy sleep habits? Well, there are a number of factors that can influence the sleeping environment and the quality of sleep that we get. Let’s take a look at some of those factors.
Bedroom Design
A bedroom should be a sanctuary, somewhere that feels calm and relaxing and restful. This means that we want to create a space that is tidy, comfortable and uncluttered in order to promote healthy sleep habits. A 2015 study by St. Lawrence University found that a cluttered bedroom leads to poor sleep and increased anxiety and people with a messy bedroom also find it harder to fall asleep in the first place. It is also advisable to choose colours for the bedroom that foster a sense of calm and that promote sleep. Blue, green and pink are some of our favourite colours for bedrooms and according to colour psychology, these colours tend to elicit calming physical responses in the body making us feel more at ease at bedtime.
Temperature
The temperature of our bedroom can have serious implications for the quality of our sleep. As we approach bedtime, our body temperature naturally starts to drop in preparation for sleep and this is what kickstarts the production of melatonin, a natural hormone that helps to control our sleep cycle. If the bedroom is too hot, we can become restless. If it’s too cold, we will struggle to fall asleep. Ideally the bedroom should be somewhere around 16-18°C to promote a good night’s sleep.
Lighting
Our melatonin levels are also affected by light. As it starts to get dark our bodies release melatonin to relax the body and help us drift off to sleep. So ideally, we need our bedrooms to be as dark as possible to promote the best conditions for sleep. Consider installing blackout blinds to block out as much natural light and light pollution as possible. We also need to be aware of the effects of the blue light that is emitted by electronic devices such as TVs, tablets and mobile phones. The blue light suppresses melatonin levels and therefore makes it much harder for us to fall asleep. Using electronic devices before bed can also lead to disturbed sleep as the content that we tend to consume on them can be too engaging and doesn’t allow us to switch off and prepare for sleep. Ideally, we should ban electronic devices from the bedroom entirely and at the very least switch them off an hour before we plan to sleep. Many adults struggle to implement healthy sleep habits when it comes to our electronic devices.
Noise
Most of us need a quiet bedroom to sleep well. A noisy environment can make it extremely difficult to fall asleep and stay asleep particularly in the lighter stages of sleep. If we are woken up suddenly whilst in deep REM sleep, this can lead to sleep inertia which is the feeling of incomplete awakening and grogginess. This can reduce our ability to perform even simple tasks. Noise-interrupted sleep can limit our motor skills, our creativity, impair our judgment, and even affect our memory. So, it is important to ensure a quiet environment for sleep.
Bed and Bedding
For the vast majority of us, the bed is by far the most significant element of a good night’s sleep. An uncomfortable bed and mattress won’t promote deep or effective sleep and will leave us waking tired and achy. The National Bed Federation recommends replacing your mattress every seven to eight years. During this time our mattress will undergo 20,000 hours of wear and tear and will no longer be able to support us and our sleep needs. Pillows are also important to our quality of sleep. Poor pillow support can lead to neck pain, stiff necks and persistent headaches. We need to choose a good pillow that can support our head in the correct alignment. Bedding should also be a considered choice. It can affect our body temperature during sleep as well as our comfort levels, so it is important to make sure we get this right. Both temperature and comfort are personal preferences so we should work out what bedding provides us with the best night sleep. A bedroom that promotes healthy sleep habits is vital if we are to ensure that we wake well rested and ready for our day ahead. Poor quality sleep can leave us feeling tired and lethargic, but it can also cause more serious health problems from headaches, poor memory and difficulty focusing, to anxiety, depression, obesity, diabetes and even cardiovascular disease.
If you have created a bedroom using Honeypot Furniture products, please share on Instagram and tag us with @honeypotfurniture and use our hashtag #JoinTheHive so we can see.