How my bedroom helps me sleep

Well following my post last week the new bed arrived and I thought I would share a few pictures of the current state of the bedroom.

We have not done a lot to the master bedroom yet but there are a few changes and steps we have taken to help us sleep. Whilst I generally find it easy to sleep my boyfriend often suffers from bouts of insomnia so I have always have in mind what will improve his quality of sleep. Consequently when we first moved into the house the focus was upon sleep hygiene with aesthetics being secondary.

Blackout Blinds

I know it is fairly obvious but blackout blinds for the bedroom were the first purchase for the house, to make sure that the bedroom is as dark as possible when trying to sleep. The house did not have any window dressings upstairs when we moved in and I am really glad that we visited the house between the offer being accepted and the purchase going through to measure the bedroom windows which meant that the blinds were read and able to be put in when we moved in. We had one night without them, as we could not find the electric drill, and I am eternally grateful that it was only one night. 

Given the interesting angles of the room I felt that blinds would work better than blackout curtains and the Roman Blinds were dressier and sophisticated that a roller blind.

I love the look of jute blinds but they do not block out enough light so I looked at alternative fabrics that were a similar colour and had a bit of texture. I ordered these ones from Blinds2go in Linen Chic which combines Pure linen and Eternity Linen in a sandy mushroom and a warm grey edge with Blackout backing. Although they are relatively simple the linen gives them interest and the colours work well with the grey carpet.  

Swap the light bulbs

Talking of light, we swapped the existing cool white light bulb for a warm white LED light bulb to reduce our exposure to blue based light before trying to sleep. We have not yet swapped out the basic light fixing for Black and Brass ceiling fixture, as I want to get an electrician to come and replace it, as well as put in a dimmer switch to assist with winding down our exposure to light before going to bed.

We also use warm white light bulbs in the bedside lamps. The bedside lamps, are these ones by Globen lighting through Scandinavian Design website. As they plug in and come with European plug sockets, we bought these permanent plugconverters from amazon that you screw onto the light fitting.

We slightly knocked the bedside lights when we put the bed together so they ended up a little crooked in the photographs.

The Right Bedding

I previously mentioned that we reordered the same mattress as I had on the double bed since we found it comfortable and it worked for a back and a side sleeper. It is a memory foam bed which has been treated to prevent it reflecting too much heat back.

When we looked at buying new pillows, I keep a record for a week about the position we slept in before deciding that we both needed pillows for side sleepers. Whilst I would love to have Hungarian Goose Down pillows they are an extravagance whilst there are still other things to get for the house. Instead we have these White Company Duck Feather Pillows and Pillow covers since neither of us is allergic.

We also have a duvet which comes in two parts which clicks together meaning that we can tailor the warmth of the duvet depending on how cold it is outside. If you really struggle and need a different level of cover than your partner you could always try the Swedish tradition of separate single duvets in matching fabric.

Linen Bed sheets

When I accidently dyed a very expensive white Egyptian cotton duvet pink (thank you stray red sock!) I researched what fabrics were best to help regulate your body temperature and stumbled across various articles about the benefits of linen sheets. We bought these 100% linen ones from TKMaxx for £50 for a king size set which is incredible value compared to others I have seen.

I did not notice a huge impact when we initially switched to linen covers but come the summer months they were a god send and since they look best crumpled (trying to iron them is fruitless) they have the advantage of being pretty low maintenance compared to other bedding.

In case you are interested the second set of pillow covers is from the John Lewis Croftcollection and is off white and slate stripe. We also have a Moroccan Blanket which works like a weighted blanket as it is very heavy, which can help when feeling restless to reduce your movements.

Air cleaning plant

At the beginning of the year we went to Homebase to buy more plants for the Study and I picked up a peace Lily for the bedroom (there were a lot of Hot Fuzz references made for the week following that purchase) to help with air quality in the bedroom.

According to NASA research Peace Lilies are excellent at removing the following pollutants from the air; benzene, formaldehyde, ammonia, trichloroethylene, xylene and toluene. Which means that they will help improve the quality of the air you breathe in during your sleep.

They also increase air humidity by up to 5% which has the benefit of reducing the effects of low humidity which include; static energy, dry skin and hair and helps with respiratory conditions.

There are other plants which have similar effects but Peace Lilies are resilient to my notorious plant neglect since they only need watering once a week and can survive you forgetting to open the blinds. They are however toxic so you need them out of the reach of pets and children.

Texture over pattern

One thing you may have noticed from my pictures is that we have not gone for lots of pattern in the room and other than the vintage rugs; we have used white, warm neutrals, shades of grey with brass and black fittings.

We intentionally chose texture for interest over patterns to make the room feel as cosy and calming as possible without distracting us whilst we try to get to sleep. Any shapes and patterns used in the room are geometric or circular rather than floral or abstract to ensure consistency.

I am not sure if it will completely stay that way, we need to get a fire place for the other end of the room which I did not take a photo of, but anything we add will need to be carefully considered to ensure that it does not create undue distractions when going to sleep.

Scent

Pretty much everything I have ever read about aromatherapy and sleep recommends that you use lavender. I personally find lavender overwhelming and it tends to give me a headache so I band it from the house and give it a wide berth.

I do however use a jasmine as a substitute fragrance to assist in relaxing. A Study undertaken in Germany in 2010 found that the scent of Jasmine had a similar effect on people’s mood to valium consequently it helps relieve anxiety and improve the quality of sleep.

You could always buy a Jasmine plant for your bedroom or you can try room sprays and air diffusers with jasmine. You could also try Calm pulse point balm from Kiss the Moon to help you wind down which is Jasmine rather than Lavender based.

We currently have White Company's Cashmere diffuser which has notes of Jasmine as well as tuberose and cashmere woods which to my mind is the smell of comforting luxury. I have put a few suggestions below if you like me suffer from lavender induced headaches.

I hope I have given you some ideas to help you sleep, let me know if you have any of your own sleep tips. 

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Labels: Decor , wellbeing