How to decorate your bedroom to sleep better

The bedroom is a special place in any house, because it’s the place where all stress should melt away and where you are at your most vulnerable. It’s also the place where we recharge ourselves to make sure we can kick ass all day long. To improve this function of this very special room, I wrote down some tips to help you decorate your bedroom to sleep better!

This post does contain advertisements, but it’s not a sponsored post and many recommendations are my own.

The bed

To start off right, we’ll look at the most important furniture piece in the bedroom: your bed. Beds and especially mattresses aren’t cheap, but it’s worth investing in a good one. What’s a good mattress differs for everyone. It differs for instance of your body temperature, weight and your preferred sleep pose. This is also true for the pillow you sleep on. Luckily, most bed salesmen know pretty much about the basics of this and they can advise you. However, I’d also recommend to Google this subject. Very famous companies that sell quality mattresses and pillows are Tempur or Casper, but there are many, many more. Here’s some more information about quality mattresses and which ones are good for you. Since it’s such a focal point in the room, the bed is also something to use decorative in the bedroom. Think for instance about the bedframe and the duvet covers!

Colours

Now let’s talk color, since nothing decorates a room like a good colour does! There are a few things to consider when picking a color scheme for your bedroom. You want your bedroom to be a place where you feel peaceful. For some, this goes with a warm colour scheme with darker colours, whilst others feel better in a bright, white room. I personally prefer darker colours, but since my bedroom is very small, I didn’t want to go too dark. That’s why I love the blue-ish grey colour on my wall. It’s light enough for the daytime, but dark enough so you don’t see any spots on it (like with white). In addition, it reminds me of the sea, which is where I generally feel safe.

Minimal decor and no clutter

They say a decluttered house leads to a decluttered mind and that’s exactly what’s needed for the bedroom! Therefore, I’d recommend keeping the room organised and clean. In a way, I thus recommend you not to decorate your bedroom too much! I love decorations, but to sleep better, I barely have them in the bedroom, apart from a framed poster on the wall and a rug. This way, my mind won’t be distracted from its task: to sleep. In addition, having little to no decorations makes it easier to clean. Since we spent the entire night in the same room, I prefer to have as little dust in the room as possible. The only decoration I do recommend are some plants, since they are known to have restorative properties for the body as well as the mind.

Fresh air, scents and temperature in the bedroom

As said, I love a clean bedroom with plants and the biggest reason for that is the quality of the air in the room. And, if you’d like to be sustainable, you can get them from PLNTS. PLNTS grow houseplants in a sustainable way, so you actually help the planet as well! There’s nothing worse than waking up in a stuffy bedroom. Therefore, I think it’s vital to have some fresh air flowing in at night. This is why I almost always have the window open a little bit when I sleep.

In addition, it cools off the air. An ideal sleep temperature is around 65°F (18.3°C), which is fairly cold. The reason for this is that it matches your circadian rhythm better. Our circadian rhythm is the natural state of the body that’s matched to a time when we were still living in the wild. At night, temperatures would drop and therefore, our bodies adjusted to that. Therefore, we still prefer a little bit of cold.

Another factor in the room that can help you calm is the scent in your room with the use of aromatherapy. Where some scents are prone to activate you, some are known to relax you. When I feel a little stressed, I put a few drops of lavender essential oil on my pillow or I use my jasmine pillow spray a few hours before I go to bed. This way, the scent isn’t too strong anymore when I go to sleep, but it still helps me calm down. You could also decorate your bedroom by hanging some dried lavender on your wall (although it’s a bit messier if the leaves fall out).

The outside world

Last, but definitely not least, we have to talk about what’s happening outside of the bedroom and more importantly, how to keep it out. Yes, I mean your phone and laptop. Although I do charge my phone in my bedroom, since I use it as an alarm clock as well, I stop using my phone when I’m there. In addition, I never use my laptop in there. When I need to write down some thoughts, I use my notebook next to my bed and to entertain myself, I read a book. The only way I’ll use my phone is to put on some classical music to wind down. This is all super important for two reasons.

The first reason is that we live in a 24/7 economy, but our bodies and minds are not build for that. We need time to step away from all that buzz and the bedroom is the perfect place for it. Phones, however entertaining they may be, can cause us a lot of stress. Instagram gives us jealousy or shame because we compare ourselves with the insta perfect pictures. Whatsapp can drive us crazy since people always seem to want something from you. Well, no more! In addition to not looking at your technology at night, I’d also recommend not doing it first thing in the morning to wake up with a more positive mindset.

The second reason why our devices aren’t good for our sleeping patterns is because of the blue light. Blue light triggers our brains to think it’s the middle of the day and therefore it messes with our circadian rhythms. Our bodies stop making melatonin, which is the hormone that makes us sleepy, and we won’t fall asleep. And you might think: I have a blue light filter or I can take a melatonine pill. Don’t! Although blue light filters do help a little, they can’t erase all the light and melatonine pills teach the body not to make melatonine, which can lead to severe sleep problems in the future. Just. Put. Your. Phone. Down.

And since we’re on the subject of lighting, invest in some nice curtains! Especially in the city, we’re always surrounded by lights. It comes from cars, street lights and lights from other houses, good curtains are vital for a good night of sleep. Although I love light, flowy curtains in my living room, my bedroom has black-out curtains that keep all light from coming in. In the morning, I’ll open them right away to wake up, but in the evening, I’m fine with complete darkness. This is again a great way to follow our circadian rhythm.

How did you decorate your bedroom? Does it bring you the peace and quiet you need to fall asleep as well as you can? Let me know in the comments below! Here are also some more posts on sleep and relaxation at night. And, if you liked this post, you can get regular updates by following me on Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter or to subscribe and get a free e-book on saving money without devaluing your quality of life!

Lots of love,

Lisa

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