Our Sleep Guide: Creating The Perfect Sleeping Space

When it comes to sleep, your environment can play a big part in how quickly you fall asleep as well as the quality of sleep you have. Which is why it is vital that your bedroom is set up for truly great sleep. It is important that you get the vibe, temperature, bed comfort and so on just right. This way you can relax, fall asleep quickly, and get some of the best undisturbed sleep possible. Today we are going to go over some of our top tips on how you can create the perfect sleeping space. Stick around to learn more.

Get our top tips on how to buy a mattress in our post: Our Mattress Buying Guide: 3 Easy Steps

Ideal Sleep Temperature:

In order to stay asleep comfortably throughout the night, keeping proper temperature for sleep is vital. Our body temperature lowers as we fall asleep.

If our mattresses or room temperature heats up our bodies fight against it to maintain ideal sleep temperatures. Which can lead to waking up in the middle of the night hot and sweaty. Sound familiar?

First tip is to keep your room set at a brisk 63 to 68 degrees. This will likely be much cooler than you keep the house throughout the day. Keep in mind that our bodies fight to stay cooler throughout the night, this is the ideal temperature in order to remain asleep comfortably.

Bed Temperature Regulators

If you have trouble staying warm or cool throughout the night there is a lot of new tech out there that could help you.

Temperature controlled mattress pads, pillow pads, and bed cooling systems that you can set the temperature on can help you to regulate and change your climate without having to heat or cool the entire home.

You May Also Enjoy: Best Cooling Sleeping Products For Hot Sleepers

Wool Bedding

For all those wanting to naturally regulate the temperature of their beds, we suggest you look into wool products. Wool is a natural temperature regulator.

Making this material perfect for bedding. It also helps to wick away moisture from sweat. All of which helps you to get not too cold, not too hot, and avoid waking up in a pool of sweat.

Never knew these things about wool? Click here to learn more about the many benefits of wool bedding!

Best Lighting for Sleep Space:

Ideally for most, having your bedroom as dark as possible as you fall asleep is preferred. Although your lighting for getting ready for bed, and as you get up in the morning can also greatly impact how quickly you fall asleep as well as naturally waking up in the morning. Which is why getting your lighting just right is so important.

Nighttime Lighting

In the evenings we suggest diming all of your lights as well as avoiding blue light emitting technology (TV, Tablets, Smartphones, etc.) You can even start this as early as dinner time.

By dimming your lights and limiting blue light exposure, you are working with your circadian rhythm in order to slowly prepare yourself for sleep.

If your overhead lights do not dim, warm toned lamps and candles are a great option. In the summer try to draw the blinds and shutout sunlight in the evenings.

Blackout Curtains

We suggest that everyone invest in a good set of blackout curtains for their bedroom windows.

Even if you live out in the middle of no where without street lights or neighbors back porch lights, you can still have a bright full moon can be enough to make it difficult to sleep at night.

Blackout curtains allow you to shut out unwanted light from your windows whenever you need to do so. Just be sure you let in the light in the mornings.

Morning Lights

In the mornings, you want to gradually turn on the lights. If you can, we highly suggest investing in a smart light or alarm clock that turns on your lights for you.

This way you begin to wake up from the light naturally. By waking up with light instead of a loud alarm, you are again working with your circadian rhythm in order to wake up naturally. This can be a serious game changer for many.

The Best Smells for Sleep:

Smell is one of the most affective way to create a sense of environment and mood. Which is why it is such an important aspect to creating the perfect sleep space in your bedroom. While of course we think if physical comfort first when we think of sleep, the other senses beyond touch also play a key role in overall comfort and sleep preparation.

Keep Your Sleep Space Clean

This should be a given, however it can be difficult to always keep your bedroom clean and tidy. If you haven’t washed your sheets in a few weeks, it is time. Even when we are sleeping in a comfortable temperature, we spend hours upon hours in our bed each night. Sweat, hair, and skin cells all collect in your sheets. We suggest cleaning or changing your sheets every 1 to 2 weeks. This also helps prevent dust and allergens irritating you as you sleep.

Keeping a tidy space not only will keep your room smelling better, it will also keep your space sacred and relaxing. Let the laundry pile up in a hamper or in the laundry room. Your bedroom is for rest and relaxation, not for dirty clothes to collect in.

Get more tips on how to keep your bedroom clean in our post: Quick Tips for Keeping Your Bedroom Clean

Utilize Calming Scents

Now that your room is clean, you can input relaxing scents in order to set the mood for sleep. Of course, lavender and chamomile are well known and loved for their relaxing and soothing scent. However, there is a whole world of soothing scents out there to be used. Find great scents that are relaxing and soothing to you and your family.

Whether you swear by essential oils, or you prefer a linen spray, or scented candles. You can choose whatever form of scent you prefer. When you use the same scent every night, it can help you to feel calm while sending signals to your subconscious that it is time for sleep.

You May Also Enjoy: Best Bedroom Fragrance & Safe Scents For Bedrooms

Eliminate Distractions & Over Stimulation:

We briefly mentioned earlier that you should avoid tablets, smartphones, laptops, and tv in the bedroom because they emit blue light. However, this is not the only reason we suggest that you keep these entertainment devices out of the bedroom. These are highly stimulating devices that are distracting and make it far to easy to stay awake, even when you’re dog tired.

Laptops and phones can often bring work emails and calls into a time and place that is meant for relaxation. Most jobs can wait until the morning. If you have the luxury of being able to keep your work out of the bedroom, do so. While smartphones, TVs, and tablets are now a literal endless source of entertainment and distraction. If you want to avoid accidental sleepless nights, get these distractions out of your bedroom.

Want to learn more about tech and sleep? Check out our post: Technology and Sleep: The Blatant Hypocrisy

Music & Sounds for Sleep:

Another way you can transform your sleep space into the ultimate relaxing environment for rest, is with music. It is incredible how instantaneously music can affect our mood. The right song comes on and we want to dance, cry, or perhaps even sleep.

Music for Sleep

We suggest creating a playlist for your evening chill down.

Put on this playlist whenever it is time to prepare for sleep. Listen to it as you brush your teeth, take a bath, and climbing into bed. This is a great addition to any nighttime routine.

Click here for out top favorite music to fall asleep to.

Sounds for Sleep

Looking to have something to fall asleep to? Try a soothing podcast or perhaps some white noise.

Podcasts are great for giving something for our active minds to pay attention to as we drift to sleep. While white noise is a great tool for blocking out distracting sound like noisy neighbors.

Learn more about white noise and other sounds that are great for inducing sleep!

Bedroom Décor for Best Sleep:

Choose to create a space that makes you feel at peace. Whether you love to surround yourself with the things you love most, or you prefer a clean and tranquil minimalist environment is up to you and your taste. We do suggest using calming natural colors that are not overly stimulating.

Mixing up a combination of different cozy textures is a great way to make your bedroom look and feel oh so comfortable. Layers of blankets serves more than one purpose. The first is of course that it looks great, but it also allows you to have layers that you can either peel off or layer up if you begin to get too cold or warm throughout the night.

Click the link to learn about the art of Feng Shui and it’s benefits for your sleep.

Making Your Bed Perfect:

Adjust Your Position

Adjusting your sleep position can be very helpful with comfort and providing relief from snoring and RLS. Using wedge pillows or adjustable bed frames is a great way to add extra comfort into your bedroom.

It allows you to change your position from a seated or propped up position to a laying and sleeping position. These are a great addition to your sleep and comfort in bed.

Learn more in our post Benefits of Wedge Pillows or check out our post Pros & Cons to Adjustable Bed Frames.

Get the Right Mattress

If there is only one thing you take away from this entire blog post, it should be this. Invest in a good mattress that fits you and your sleep needs. If you are a side sleeper, be sure you have a mattress with good pressure relief.

Stomach sleepers, get a bed with a good amount of support and firmness. Back sleepers, get a mattress with enough support for your back and pressure relief for hips and shoulders.

Looking for a new mattress? Check out our post for best mattresses for Side Sleepers, Stomach Sleepers, and Back Pain Relief. This way you can get the best mattress for you and what you need.

Comfortable Bedding

Your bedding has a lot to do with your overall comfort in bed. We so often focus on pillows and mattresses, that sometimes blankets and bedding gets pushed aside. Make sure your bedding, no matter what time of year is breathable.

Even in the dead of winter, you do not want to be stuck in a sweaty plastic bag. Which is why we suggest that you avoid plastic or materials that do not allow any airflow or absorbency/moisture wicking properties. Cotton, linen, wool, Tencel, lyocell are all great materials to look at when looking for sheets or bedding.

Click here for the best Comforters for Sleeping Cool.

Pillows for All Sleepers

At first glance, most pillows all look the same. Yet if you start to look deeper there are many different kinds of pillow that definitely are not “one size fits all”.

Different people and sleeping positions require different kinds of loft, materials, firmness level in order to remain comfortable and sleep throughout the night.

Click here to see the Best Pillows of The Year, for our top-rated pillows for different sleep positions.

Creating the Perfect Sleeping Space – Final Thoughts:

Getting the sleep, you deserve can be greatly impacted if your sleeping space is far from what it needs to be. The vibe and comfort of your bedroom is vital in order to get the best sleep of your life. The right lighting, setting, and mood can either make it incredibly easy to fall asleep naturally. While too much light, distracting sounds, or even an uncomfortable mattress can keep you awake and uncomfortable. We hope these tips help you on your way to creating the perfect sleeping space for you and your family.

Have a question for us? Feel free to Contact Us with any questions you may have. We would love to answer and help you out in any way we can.