4 Additions To Your Bedroom To Improve Sleep Quality

There are so many different ways to set yourself up for a successful sleep. One of the first places to start is to take a look at your bedroom. Our bedrooms are a sacred place. A place where we feel safe, comfortable and supported. When it comes to building your best bedroom, it does not have to be a huge investment; with just a few tweaks you can support yourself in achieving a restful night’s sleep. —Nicole Shallow

keep it dark! When it comes to sleep, darkness is one of the most important factors to consider. Keeping the room dark tells our body it is time to sleep and stay asleep. Now that we don’t always sleep at the same time that the sun is down, blackout blinds can be helpful to allow you to sleep longer into the morning, or fall asleep earlier into the evening. An eye mask can help when reducing darkness, however, our skin actually absorbs light and light hitting the skin can cause you to come out of deep sleep. There is a research study that showed even a light that was under the kneecap of a sleeper impacted their ability to achieve deep sleep. Interesting right?!

cool down! Temperature also plays a really important role to support sleep onset and sleep maintenance. Do you notice yourself having a harder time falling asleep during the hot summer nights? This is because our core body temperature actually needs to be a few degrees cooler than our normal daily temperature in order to fall and stay asleep. A few tricks to helping reduce core body temperature is to have a warm bath or shower (not too hot that it increases core temperature) to pull the heat from the inside out. This is something we have started doing in the summer months so that we can still keep our blankets on us throughout the night. Using a fan or AC can also be helpful to maintain that lower core body temperature. The key here will be to have it going all night.

bring in a plant! Did you know that some plants actually let off oxygen and they may support you in achieving a deeper quality sleep? Well, now you do! There are many plants like aloe vera and the snake plant that actually help detox the air as well as let off more oxygen. So for some extra fun decorating, throwing in a plant may not be such a bad idea!

keep it for sleep! Your bed should be for sleep and not for doing homework, working, or scrolling on social media. With a really comfy mattress and silky soft bed sheets this can be hard to resist especially during that afternoon slump. But we promise you will find keeping it for sleep helpful! If we spend too much time in our room or our beds not sleeping, we can start to associate laying in bed with being awake, which can make sleeping more challenging for some. Creating a space optimal for sleeping is so personalized. You want this place to be an oasis that fills you with joy and a sense of calm. Taking care of your bedroom, reducing clutter and only having things in there that support you are important!

For more sleep tips be sure to follow Nicole on Instagram and online.