“Sleep is the best meditation,” the Dalai Lama once declared. And your bedroom is (or should be) your sanctuary, where you get the best relaxing sleep. It is that one space where you can immediately ease into, one that signals to your brain that it’s time to unwind and relax. But how do you achieve that? Let’s look at some of the best ways to get there.
Secrets to a Sleep-Friendly Bedroom
Invest in Bedding
Whether it’s a four-poster bed or one with a fancy headboard ends up being more an aesthetic decision than anything. The key to meditative sleep is the right bedding. Invest in a good mattress. There are plenty of options in the market now for even the fussiest of clients; some brands even let you customise your mattress. Choose a size and level of firmness depending on your sleeping style.
Whether you opt for memory foam mattress or one with coil or box spring, make sure it’s also one that’s dust, mite and allergen-resistant. For that plush hotel bed feeling, add a mattress-topper. These also come in different materials (memory foam, microfibre) and thickness, depending on how soft you want it to be and how deep you want to sink into your bed.
Ditto for pillows. This is the stuff you want to spend your money on, you’re literally going to be using it every day of your life.
Linens & Cushions
Everyone’s looking for a thread count that’s higher than 300, but any thread count will do, as long as the sheets are soft and breathable. If you tend to feel hotter than most people at night when you’re sleeping, there are also “cooling sheets” that help keep the temperature down. Also throw on some cushions—they’re handy support for your head when you want to prop yourself up to read, and during the day when the bed is made, it’s the trick to making your room look richer. You can get a pair of Euro shams and one or two accent pillows, besides the two standard ones you actually sleep on.
Layered Lighting
Another crucial element to getting a good night’s sleep is the lighting in your bedroom. Bedrooms should ideally have three types of lighting: ambient/general, task, and accent lighting.
Ambient or general lighting are your main lights—these are usually ceiling fixtures (chandeliers, pendant lights), just make sure you choose warm tones. If you can invest in recessed fixtures that have an inbuilt dimmer, nothing like it, because then you can choose how much light you need depending on what you’re doing.
Task lighting is your second layer, for spaces that need concentrated light—this includes nighttime reading or applying makeup or working. The most popular choices for this are wall sconces (placed above eye level so the bulbs aren’t visible) or table lamps.
And finally, accent lights, that are used to either highlight decor accents in the room (like a painting or photo frame) or simply to create a mood—recessed lighting, soft downward-facing floor lamps, or even a string or two of fairy lights. When it comes to the bulbs, stick with warmer colours (yellow vs white), which doesn’t mess with your melatonin production, that’s the hormone that regulates your sleep-wake cycle.
Curtain Call
Finding the right curtains for your bedroom can make or break your room. We tend to get caught up in the brain-breaking decisions between bold pops of colour versus all-white sheers, neutrals versus patterns, frills and fringes versus plain…and while all of that is important because they add to the mood of the room (bright and happy, or soft and sexy), you’re going to need layers here as well if sound sleep is your ultimate goal. Sheer whites are popular because there’s nothing quite as pretty as muted sunlight streaming through the room.
But that also means that you’re likely to be woken up quite harshly with the sun in the morning. Do you know why you sleep so well in hotel rooms? Because they all use black-out curtains as a layer behind the main ones. This keeps the room dark when they’re even during the day. So yes, you run the risk of oversleeping because you can’t tell what time it is in the morning, but that’s what your alarm clock is for!
Calming Colours
From the walls to your furnishings, colours can add a lot to the mood of your bedroom. Traditionally calming colours for your walls include shades of blue, ivory, teal, mauve, and grey. But if you would rather have a pop of colour, that’s fine too; just restrict it to a single wall instead of the whole room.
Ditto for your bedding, though our personal favourite are classic crisp white linens, with some detailing to make it come alive. If you prefer colour, go with lighter tones—it makes a difference to get into a bed that looks crisp and clean from the get-go.
Keep it Clean
Wash your bedding often to cut down on potential allergy-triggers like dust mites and pet hair. Cut down on the clutter—it can be very distracting on a subconscious level to have little knick-knacks strewn across the room, so keep those to a minimum in at least this room of your house. Have dedicated spaces for things like books, medicines, water and so on so they don’t just lie around until a pile forms. Keep electronics out as far as possible—yes, that includes the TV, the biggest point of contention between any two people sharing a room!
Aroma Therapy
Light an aroma candle or introduce a diffuser in the bedroom to make it more inviting to unwind at the end of a long day. Go with something crisp and citrusy or heavy floral fragrances—this is a very personal choice. Just remember that the scent from diffusers lingers for a longer time, so if that’s what you’re using, you may want to go with a lighter smell. An arrangement of fragrant flowers or even a small plant will also do the trick.
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