Sleep Better by Setting Up Your Bedroom Right

Of the four cornerstones for health and wellness, sleep (and quality sleep at that), is one part that we often neglect.

There are many ways we sabotage our sleep: from using our smartphones and our computer screens up until we turn off the light to keeping our smartphones at our bedside – and many blinking LED lights in the bedroom.

Modern times have hurt our sleep, but there are things you can do to sleep better.

Creating a peaceful bedroom space is one of them!

The following are a few great methods for helping you make your bedroom a perfect setting so you can sleep better!

As a bonus tip,  always invest in the best mattress since sleeping is such a crucial part.

How To Arrange Your Bedroom For Better Sleep

1. Make it green

There are specific plants that are known to have positive effects on sleep.

I can still vividly recall my grandmother’s and my parents’ rooms having both Spider plant (Chlorophytum Comosum), Snake Plant (Sansevieria Trifasciata), and Aloe Vera.

While these plants may sound like an arachnophobe’s worst nightmare, they are some of the best plants to have in your bedroom to boost the amount of fresh oxygen at night.

They also remove impurities (such as formaldehyde) from the air.

Here are a few other plants that help you sleep better.

Just be sure to check if any are poisonous if ingested by children or pets you may own:

• Jasmine – perhaps my favorite…amazing and relaxing!
• Lavender – with its oils already known to help reduce stress, why not go straight to the source?
• Valerian – is known to help with insomnia.
• Gardenia – beautiful white blossoms with a sedative effect.
• Gerbera Daisy – similar to Aloe Vera, the Snake Plant, and the Spider plant, this pretty pink flower works overtime at night to release fresh oxygen while you sleep!
• English Ivy Plant – can help reduce allergens in the room’s air, but not a good choice for those with children or pets, as ingestion is known to be toxic.
• Peace Lily – not only does it remove formaldehyde and benzyne in the air, but it also adds humidity, making it perfect for dry environments.

2. Keep it dark

Especially with all of our current electronic devices, it’s difficult to have our bedroom light-free and pitch dark.

However, sleeping in a room with digital clocks and display screens can disrupt our sleep patterns, negatively affecting everything from our sleep patterns and hormones to our “awake” moods.

Try closing the curtains or purchasing black-out curtains to help get your room as dark as possible.

If you have digital lights, such as a TV, cable box, or other electronics, a simple solution is to put a mini post-it note over the light to help dim it.

If you’re someone who relies on the sun on to help wake you up in the morning, try closing the curtains but not all of the way.

This helps get some sunshine in but keeps the light out at night.

3. Purchase an old-fashioned alarm clock

You know, like the ones in Back to the Future. 

I love the brown flip-down clock, which they now sell with digital radio.

By taking out the LED displays from your bedroom, you can increase the chances that you’ll sleep better – and deeper.

4. Kill your smartphone

Now that we have your alarm clock all set up find a place outside of your bedroom for your phone.

This has become petrifying for many, as having a landline for our home or apartment seems to be a thing of the past.

If you truly need to keep the phone in your room, find a drawer for it.

Make sure it’s closed (with your phone in it) 30 minutes before you want to fall asleep.

No more Facebook, Instagram, or YouTube before bed.

Instead, go all “Brady Bunch” and pick up a book or magazine to read before bed instead.

This can tie in beautifully to the “What can you accomplish in two years by spending two hours a day”, as you’ll begin working towards adding to your skills and abilities.

You can geek out on whatever kind of fiction writing you enjoy.

5. Smash all screens

Don’t just kill your smartphone, but smash all screens!

Multiple studies have shown that blue light from the many screens in our life delay or retard the release of the hormone melatonin.

This is our “sleepy” hormone, helping us fall asleep.

The blue light emitted by backlit screens has been shown to decrease melatonin production by 91 percent!

Okay, so that was a bit dramatic.

You don’t have to smash the screens.

But you should at least use an app to decrease the blue light emitted from the screen.

There is a number out there on the market.

Or, if you want to keep apps to a minimum, you can pick up a pair of blue-light blocking glasses.

It doesn’t hurt that many of them may help you feel like Bono.

6. Get a new mattress or pillow

One of the things we often don’t think about when we want to sleep better is our worn-out mattresses and pillows that have had their fluffy stuff pulverized over time.

This can also lead to neck and shoulder pain, believe it or not!

These two relatively simple (although not necessarily cheap) changes can have significant positive impacts on your sleep.

In fact, in just the last three months, I’ve made this exact suggestion to three of my athletes, and they’ve each “magically resolved” their sleep issues!

7. Keep it clean!

Trying to feel calm and relaxed in a messy house – let alone a messy room – can be difficult.

While it isn’t easy to keep our bedroom clean and tidy

(Hey, we were in a rush to change and get to the gym, who has time to put clothes in the hamper?), it does have a positive effect on our mood.

You don’t have to go crazy and go from messy to army-worthy in one night.

Start by spending just 5-10 minutes each day organizing your room.

Over a few days to two weeks, you’ll be amazed at how much better you feel!

One last trick to help you sleep better (which can have a huge benefit in other areas of your life) is simply making your bed each morning.

It may not seem like much, but it’s a small, two-minute habit that has a trickle-down effect on helping you improve your mood, productivity, and positivity… we’ll save that for another post!

Have any other tips for setting up your bedroom in a way that helps you sleep better?

Let us know in the comment section below.