6 Bedroom Design Tips for the Perfect Night’s Sleep

A good night’s sleep is incredibly important for your physical and mental health. And your bedroom setup and design can have a major effect on the quality of your sleep. From controlling to light to minimising noise, here are 5 bedroom design tips to help give you the perfect night’s sleep.

Control the light

Unsurprisingly, light has a huge affect on the quality of your sleep. Human beings have evolved to biologically respond to the absence of light. Darkness at certain times of day sends signals to the body to relax and prepare for sleep.

Too much light in the bedroom will make it harder to get to sleep and affect the quality of your sleep. If there are external light sources outside your bedroom window, like street lights, you should invest in good blackout curtains and blinds.

You should also take control of the interior light sources in your room. Use soft light and low wattage light bulbs in bedside lamps. Soft lighting will help to prepare your body for sleep much better than bright, harsh light. And avoid blue light from electronics while getting ready for sleep.

Control temperature

The correct temperature is essential for good quality sleep. Your natural circadian rhythm affects your body’s internal temperature. Your body will begin to cool down around bedtime, reaching its low point around 5am. If the temperature in your bedroom is too hot or cold, it may affect natural changes in your body temperature, disrupting your sleep patterns.

Research suggests that the ideal sleeping temperature is between 15℃ and 19℃ for clothed and covered sleep.

Use your heating or cooling system to regulate the temperature in your bedroom and keep it within the optimal temperature range during sleep hours. To reduce the reliance on your heating or AC system, remember to change up your bedding with the seasons. Break out the heavy blankets and pyjamas during winter and just use a light sheet in summer.

Invest in quality sheets

Poor quality bed clothes can be detrimental to a good night’s sleep. They may not breathe well and can be coarse and itchy. Synthetic materials, for example, tend to trap heat, making for an uncomfortable sleep. High-quality cotton or linen sheets aren’t just a luxury; they’re an investment in a good night’s sleep. It’s also important to wash your bedding once a week to keep the sheets clean and fresh.

Control noise

When it comes to sleep, silence is golden. Any noise can make it difficult to get to sleep or affect the quality of your sleep. While we sleep, the brain continues to be aware of sounds, processing and responding to noises. Night noise can affect heart rate and blood pressure and can trigger nighttime waking.

Ideally, you want to minimise the noise in your bedroom as much as possible. Heavy rugs on the floor can help to muffle footsteps and, together with curtains, can help to reduce echo and mute noise in the bedroom.

Window double glazing can help to reduce external noise such as traffic sounds or noisy neighbours.

Make sure you remove any devices that buzz, beep or click through the night. Even if you’re used to these, they can still activate the brain, reducing the quality of sleep.

Of course, it’s not possible to completely eliminate all noise, so you may want to invest in a white noise machine or good earplugs.

Stash the electronics

Minimising screen time before bed is important for quality sleep. Resist the urge to use electronic devices or watch TV while in bed. The blue light emitted by these screens disrupts the production of melatonin, confusing the body’s circadian rhythms and making it more difficult to sleep.

If you do need to keep your phone by your bed, if you use it for an alarm for example, then turn it to airplane mode at night to reduce the urge to scroll through social media and to prevent distractions from messages and emails.

Create a calming space

When getting ready for bed, you want an environment that’s as calming as possible. This will help the body achieve the optimal state of relaxation for sleep. Bright or harsh colours, busy design or artworks, clutter and reminders of work and other stressors will make it harder to relax and more difficult to get to sleep.

Smart interior design techniques can help to create a calming space. Use cool colours like light blue, gray, silver, green and lavender as well as neutral shades. Cool, neutral colours can help to lower the heart rate and promote a sense of calm.

Aim for a minimalist aesthetic and always avoid clutter and mess in the bedroom. Clean and air out your bedroom regularly.

There are plenty of other techniques you can use to improve the quality of your sleep, including meditating before bed, cutting back on the caffeine and establishing a good pre-sleep routine. But you should never discount the importance of your bedroom setup to a good night’s sleep.