If your bedroom is merely a place to sleep and to store your clothing — if it isn’t a sanctuary to help buffer you from the effects of a hectic day — it’s time to make some changes. Not only will our tips help you to sleep more soundly, but they’ll help you look forward to that moment when you switch off the TV and pad down the hallway to shake off the world.
1.Use your senses to help you plan
Psychologists have written volumes about the psychology of color, even when it comes to residential wall paint. “Room color, particularly in your home, can dramatically affect moods, feelings and emotions,” psychiatrist Dr. Julia Shugar of Creedmoor Psychiatric Center in New York tells foxnews.com.
Professional decorators, on the other hand, suggest that you choose paint colors that appeal to you the most. In fact, the experts at HGTV suggest that since the bedroom is “the most personal space in your home,” you should “let the colors you love be your guide.” When looking at paint swatches, ask yourself how the color makes you feel. If it evokes a sense of calmness and relaxation, it may just be the ideal color for your bedroom walls.
Enlist your sense of smell when considering how to decorate your bedroom. Scented room sprays, incense and essential oil diffusers can all help, but so will throwing the windows wide to allow fresh air into the room.
Noisy neighbors and barking dogs can kill the chill you’re trying to create so consider purchasing a white noise machine or water fountain, if you love the sound of trickling water.
You might also like the 8-minute long “Weightless,” by Marconi Union (believe it or not, there is also a 10-hour version). The British Academy of Sound has dubbed it “the most relaxing song in the world,” Apparently, the song’s 80 beats per minute will cause your heart to sync with it, lowering your blood pressure.
“The eight-minute track is so effective at inducing sleep, motorists have now been warned they should not listen to it whilst driving,” claims Daily Mail’s David Gerges.
2. Make it an electronics-free zone
Neuroscientists claim that blue light – which is emitted by electronic devices, such as a TV – disrupts our sleep cycles. “Changes in sleep patterns can in turn shift the body’s natural clock, known as its circadian rhythm,” Scientific American’s Jessica Schmerler says. She concludes that “shifts in this clock can have devastating health effects because it controls not only our wakefulness but also individual clocks that dictate function in the body’s organs. In other words, stressors that affect our circadian clocks, such as blue-light exposure, can have much more serious consequences than originally thought.”
Not only that, but studies also show that Americans with a TV in the bedroom tend to stay up later than those who don’t have a TV in the room.
So, get that TV out of the bedroom and consider also evicting the Kindle, smartphone, iPad, laptop and even the digital alarm clock.
3. Slip between the sheets
Now that you’ve painted the walls, camouflaged unwanted noises and 86’d the blue-light-emitting perpetrators, it’s time to slip into something a bit more comfortable – a bed that is fit for dreaming.
What you slip between when you crawl into bed at the end of the day can make or break your relaxation level. Sheets lay the foundation for everything else. A lot of fuss is made over thread count whenever bed sheets are discussed, but that isn’t the end-all, be-all when it comes to determining whether or not a sheet will be comfortable. “Despite the notion that more is better, in our past sheet tests we confirmed that a higher thread count doesn’t guarantee better sheets,” suggests Consumer Reports. Ply and weave are also important considerations, according to Vogue’s Zoe Taubman.
Top the sheets with a cozy quilt, bedspread or comforter and then a pile of pillows.
Yes, there is more you can do to create that sanctuary bedroom. Consider adding live plants to help cleanse the air in the room and add a pop of color and texture, lighting that you can adjust to suit your mood and something comfy to step on when you rise in the morning.
Alex Saenger and the Saenger Group are Top 1% Maryland Real Estate Agents serving the Washington DC Metro area. We are licensed Realtors based in Rockville, MD at Keller Williams Capital Properties.
