Sleeping Environment: Setting Up a Healthy Bedroom.

How to Improve Your Sleep with the Right Bedroom Furnishings.

You spend every third minute of your life in bed and, as a result, a lot of time in the bedroom. How you design your bedroom and which furnishings you choose affect the quality of your sleep. Why is that? Humans are creatures of habit. Your brain is constantly looking for patterns. It automates your behavior depending on the environment you’re in. Have you ever noticed that you do things automatically depending on which rooms you enter? Maybe you go into the kitchen in the morning and turn on the coffee maker right away. Or you grab your toothbrush when you go into the bathroom in the evening. You don’t need to think about these actions—you just do them.

The reason for this: The neural pathways in your brain form connections. Every time you repeat an action, it becomes a fixed pattern in your brain.

What activities do you regularly do in your bedroom? Do you like to scroll through social media? Do you regularly watch TV from your bed? Or do you even work in your bedroom? When you enter your bedroom, your brain should associate it with rest—and nothing else.

In this post, learn more about sleep and its fundamental nature, and how to set up your bedroom to maximize your rest. From the optimal room temperature and ideal humidity in the bedroom to the bed, mattress, box spring, pillows, blanket, and which items have no place in your bedroom.

Your body temperature plays a major role in the quality of your sleep. Thermoregulation is your body’s ability to regulate its own temperature. When it’s time for your body to rest, your core body temperature drops by about 1 degree. If the temperature in your environment remains too high, it becomes difficult for your body to enter a state of rest.

If you’re cold, muscle tension can occur; if it’s too hot, your body sweats—both of which disrupt sleep. The temperature in the bedroom should be such that your body can maintain its normal temperature of about 36 degrees without effort. The optimal sleeping temperature in the room is between 16 and 19 degrees.

During the cooler months, this room temperature is usually not a problem. In hot summer months, however, it becomes more difficult—especially if you don’t have air conditioning.

A simple trick to cool your room

Fill 2–3 small plastic bottles with water and put them in the freezer. Place the bottles in front of a fan. Leave a gap between the bottles so the airflow isn’t blocked. Turn off the fan’s oscillation so it’s directed straight at the bottles. This will create a nice cool breeze in the room. When you go to bed, you can turn off the fan.

Plants are a must-have in an oasis of relaxation—that is, your perfectly furnished bedroom. Not only because they look beautiful, but because they positively influence the indoor climate and create a cozy atmosphere in your home. That doesn’t mean you have to clutter your bedroom with plants. Even just one or two houseplants can work wonders. If you’re placing plants in your bedroom to improve air quality, you should know that most plants only produce oxygen during the day. If your goal is to improve air quality with plants in your bedroom, you should pay attention to which plants are particularly suitable when making your selection.

Here are our top 3 plants for the bedroom:

1.) Spider Plant

Spider plants ( , Chlorophytum comosum) are ideal for the bedroom because, according to a NASA study, they filter up to 95 percent of pollutants such as formaldehyde, benzene, and carbon monoxide from the air. They regulate humidity, are suitable for people with allergies, and can survive even in low light.

2.) Common ivy

According to a NASA study, common ivy (Hedera helix) can filter up to 94 percent of pollutants from the air. In the study, it was even able to remove 80 percent of mold spores within twelve hours. You can grow it either as a hanging plant or a potted plant.

3.) Snake Plant

Snake plant (Sansevieria) is not only very popular and easy to care for, but it also helps maintain a healthy indoor environment. The plant purifies pollutants from the air and provides oxygen 24/7. Most plants produce oxygen only during the day, but the snake plant does so even at night.

If you prioritize your well-being, you shouldn’t have these things in your bedroom.

Our smartphone is an essential companion in our lives. Our personal lives, our work—almost everything takes place on our phones. So we don’t want to demonize our smartphones. At the same time, we have to recognize that our smartphones aren’t always good for us. Even though there are now plenty of apps and sleep gadgets available, you can probably imagine that having a smartphone on your nightstand doesn’t exactly promote relaxation. Especially if you’re checking your messages in the middle of the night.

A Norwegian study found that using cell phones before bedtime contributes to insomnia and morning fatigue. Not only will you have a harder time falling asleep, but your favorite companion will also negatively impact your deep sleep phases.

Many people use their smartphones as alarm clocks. Why not get an analog or digital alarm clock instead? Ideally, one that doesn’t have an artificial light source or is dimmable.

What applies to your smartphone also applies to all other electronic devices. Your entertainment and work should stay in the room intended for them. The TV belongs in the living room, the computer in the home office. Your bedroom should be reserved for sleep. That’s because watching TV or surfing the internet right before bedtime can disrupt your sleep cycle.

Not only that: A study showed that children with a TV in their bedroom have a higher risk of obesity. According to research, couples with a TV in their bedroom have less sex than couples who keep their bedroom TV-free.

The bedroom is the most personal place in a home. And after all, you spend about a third of your life in this room. With these decorating ideas, you can create a place of relaxation.

Our tips are only useful if you actually put them into practice. That’s why you’ll find inspiration here on how to optimally redesign your bedroom in 7 steps. With these bedroom ideas, you can create a restful retreat for yourself.

Step 1: Ban smartphones and electronic devices from your bedroom.

Step 2: Check the temperature in your bedroom and figure out how to maintain the ideal temperature (16–19 degrees). You might need to sleep with the window open or use the fan-cooling trick.

Step 3: Get a houseplant that has a positive effect on your sleep. If you can’t do it today, set aside a day to buy one of the three sleep-promoting houseplants.

Step 4: Check your mattress. If you find that a new mattress would be beneficial, buy one or order it online. Make sure you can test it out for long enough.

Step 5: Darken your bedroom. You may need to get new curtains.

Step 6: Check your pillow and comforter. If you notice that your pillow or comforter shows noticeable signs of wear, buy a new one or order it online. Make sure you can test it out for long enough.

Step 7: Decide that your bedroom is a place for rest and banish all activities that don’t help you relax from your bedroom. Thank yourself for doing something good for yourself, and enjoy your oasis of rest

The bedroom is one of the most important rooms in your home. You spend a third of your life in this room. It’s where you recharge your energy for the next day. That makes it all the more important that you feel comfortable in your bedroom. The most important thing is that you look forward to entering the room in the evening and associate it with relaxation. In this post, you’ve learned what to consider when furnishing your bedroom. In addition to the right sleep essentials—including the bed, mattress, pillows, and blanket—the surrounding furnishings also play an important role. Room temperature, lighting, color choices, decor, furniture, etc., are all factors that influence the atmosphere of your room. If you look forward to going to bed at night and wake up feeling refreshed in the morning, you’ll know that you’ve designed your oasis of peace to perfectly suit your needs.