Are You Neglecting Yourself by Not Creating an Ideal Bedroom for Sleep?

The bedroom has evolved from a place of rest to a full entertainment center with televisions, phones, and tablets. While it may seem enjoyable to stay up late and watch your favorite TV show, it can have negative consequences on your health and productivity.

Sleep is the true way to repair and rejuvenate your body. When you deprive your body of sleep, you are essentially telling it that some sort of external trauma must be happening. This leads to an increase in stress hormones, specifically cortisol.

Long-term elevated stress hormones can lead to many negative effects on the body, including anxiety, headaches, increased heart rate, stroke, high blood pressure, digestive disorders, depression, and immune system dysfunction.

Sleep deprivation can also have a negative impact on your immunity, causing more pain, hampered memory, and decreased cognitive function, which can lead to lower productivity.

Your environment can impact your ability to get quality sleep. Factors such as temperature, noise, light, bed comfort, and electronic distractions can disrupt your sleep.

Studies have found that even occasional noise disruptions, such as car horns, can affect your sleep quality more than continuous noise. Living in urban areas can also cause chronic sleep deprivation due to the constant noise and light pollution.

To create an ideal bedroom for sleep, you must focus on key elements that will make it conducive to good sleep.

1. Lighting: You should consider getting dimming lights, as this makes it easier to decrease the brightness as the day progresses. If you don’t have dimming lights, you should turn off overhead lights and use a small bedside lamp with a soft, warm bulb.

2. Curtains: Your room should be as dark as possible. Darkness stimulates melatonin production in the brain, and the more it’s exposed to light, the more melatonin is suppressed. You can get blackout curtains, which can also help block out the sound.

3. Room Color: The most soothing colors for your environment are pale grey, cool blue, lavender, aqua, pale pink, and beige. You should avoid having things like computers or exercise equipment in your room as they tend to be associated with stress.

4. Temperature: Your room should be kept cool. Your body temperature naturally lowers as you drift off to sleep, and a cooler room can jump-start the process, making it easier to fall asleep and stay asleep. Sleep experts suggest that your room should be 5-10 degrees cooler than your daytime temperature.

5. Mattress: You spend a third of your life asleep, so investing in a good mattress is essential. A medium-firm mattress or a firm one with a softer pillow-top will give your spine the ideal balance of support and cushioning.

In conclusion, your bedroom should be a place of rest and comfort, a place where you can fully rejuvenate your body and mind. Neglecting your sleep can have negative consequences on your health, productivity, and overall well-being. By optimizing your sleeping environment, you can create the ideal bedroom for sleep and improve your health and productivity.