Earlier this week I mentioned that I’m getting involved in a sleep challenge – sound’s like the best challenge ever, doesn’t it?! Well I started by putting up roman blinds in the bedroom which had a blackout lining with the aim of seeing whether this improved my sleep at all.
First of all I was really pleased that the blinds did actually blackout the windows, so early morning light doesn’t diffuse into the room at all and therefore doesn’t disturb our sleep. I don’t even need curtains anymore, but I have put some up anyway to look pretty – it was rather bare without the curtains and resulted in that airy, echoey atmoshpere you get when you’ve only just moved in to a house. And a bonus result of putting up the blinds is that we no longer get terrible condensation on the windows! After my massive rant last week (see the blog post here) I’ve found the solution; simply put up blackout blinds! I think that the blinds must have a thermal quality (which was not my first consideration when choosing them) but they certainly insulate the windows and stop the horrid condensation – we now only get about 1 inch of misting at the very bottom of the window, which must be where the hot air is sneaking under the blinds. If I take more care to roll them all the way down in the evenings, I think this will completely solve the condensation problem hurrah!
Here are some more of Dunelm’s top tips for better sleep that I’ll be following this month:
- Lie in bed and do some stretching before you try to sleep it will help calm you down and regulate your breathing.
- Wind down with a warm (not hot) bath before bed to help your body reach its perfect resting temperature.
- Stop night time worries by writing your next day’s to-do list before you go to bed, this should stop you from running through everything while you are trying to drift off.
- Experts say that mattresses should be replaced every 7-8 years. If you’re struggling to get comfortable then it might be time to invest in a new mattress.
So the next step in the sleep challenge is to sort out the bed. I quite like my current mattress and certainly sleep better on my own bed than anywhere else (why is that always the case?) but I’m willing to admit that it could be improved and I’ve tried out this Dunelm mattress topper. I’ve always fancied having one of those memory-foam mattress toppers ever since watching TV infomercials selling them back in the Noughties. At the time, the price was too prohibitive and as they have reduced in price over the years, I’ve kind of gone off the idea. I think a mattress topper would roll up at the corners or create uncomfortable creases underneath my sleeping body. It can’t possibly stay flat and in the right place with all of the wriggling around I do at night. There was a time when I was a student that I didn’t have a mattress at all and just slept on layers of duvets and the above happened every day so I wasn’t too keen to repeat that! However, I’ve decided on a quilted rebound mattress topper instead, mostly because it has straps that attach it to the mattress which will hopefully minimise the movement problem! Also, it’s still a lot cheaper than all of the memory foam options out there so if I can get the same result of a better nights sleep without excessive cost, I’m happy! I will let you know how I get on
