Bedroom Environment
Establishing the proper sleep environment can also help promote sound slumber. Think about how bats congregate in caves for their daytime sleep. Similarly, you want your sleep room to be cool, dark and quiet. Below we have laid out tips for the optimal sleep environment.
Optimize your room temperature. The National Sleep Foundation suggests, in general, bedroom temperatures should be somewhere around 65°F for optimal sleep. When lying in bed trying to snooze, your body temperature naturally decreases to initiate sleep. Thermostat settings far lower or higher than what’s recommended make it harder for your body’s internal temperature change to occur, potentially leading to restlessness and difficulty sleeping.
If you don’t have a thermostat, a fan or space heater can also be a good way to lower and raise the temperature close to the 65°F range. In addition, you can adjust your bedding so you have thicker, warmer bedding during cold nights, and lighter bedding for warm nights.
Reduce noise in your room. According to the National Sleep Foundation, one of the reasons noise can wake you up in the middle of the night is because our brain continues to process sound during slumber. Because noises are associated with more movement and wakings during sleep, a noisy bedroom can lead to a less restorative night of sleep.
Take notice of your own sensitivity to sound while you sleep. Perhaps the room is quiet and you are able to fall asleep easily but later on in the evening, as you re-enter lighter sleep stages, if sound is increased, it may cause a middle of the night waking. Utilize the information you learn about your own noise sensitivity and have a talk with your roommates to set parameters on when to have reduced noise levels in the house. If they like to listen to music or watch TV, ask them how they feel about using headphones after a certain hour. You can try using ear plugs as well.
National Sleep Foundation (2020, August 14). How Noise Affects Your Sleep. Retrieved September 2020, from https://www.sleepfoundation.org/bedroom-environment/hear/how-noise-affects-your-sleep
Reduce the light in your room. Light is critical in inducing changes in your body needed to signal sleep. Leaving the lights on tricks your body into thinking it is still daylight and that you should be awake. It does this by inhibiting certain physiological changes that promote sleep, such as a rise in melatonin, as stated by the National Sleep Foundation. Even if you are not tired, try dimming the lights in your room in the evening to help induce sleepiness. You can get black-out curtains to reduce light coming from your window or utilize a sleep mask which are especially useful for daytime naps.
National Sleep Foundation (2020, July 28.). How Light Affects Your Sleep. Retrieved September 2020, from https://www.sleepfoundation.org/bedroom-environment/see/how-light-affects-sleep
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