Today is the end of my month-long challenge to improve the quality of my sleep. Hopefully you’ll have already read all about my sleep challenge and how it got me thinking about making some changes to my bedroom decor. If you’re interested to read up on all of my past articles the links are below
First I dealt with the amount of light that was coming into the room and disrupting our sleep by installing blackout blinds. These blinds also has thermal qualities so kept the warmth in the room and improved the condensation issue I wrote about last month.
I then decided to decorate my bedroom to create a ‘sanctuary’ and I used old books to wallpaper my walls – here’s the inspiration moodboard and another post about the finished room.
As the focus of the bedroom, the bed got a massive makeover, with a mattress topper which was a soft as sleeping on a cloud, memory foam pillows that protected and improved my dodgy whip-lashed neck, and lovely crisp new white hotel-esque bedding.
I also followed 30 excellent tips from Dunelm on the practical things you can do to get a better night’s sleep. Alongside the improvements that I made to my bed and environment, t he best ideas were banning technology from the bedroom and taking time to unwind for a while before bed. Here are their final tips for improving sleep:
- Try relaxing scents like Lavender or Peppermint to help calm you down before bed, try burning scented candles to help you relax in the bath before you go to bed. Don’t forget to blow them out! http://www.dunelm-mill.com/shop/dorma-lavender-and-chamomile-wax-filled-glass-candle-324630
- Increase the amount of natural light that you are exposed to during the day, this will keep you awake and alert and make the night time difference more effective
- Practice breathing through your nose, rather than your mouth. It reduces snoring and allows you to take deeper breaths
- Take a test to establish your sleep profile so that you can identify what might help you sleep more soundly: http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/sleep/profiler/
- If you haven’t fallen asleep after 30 minutes, try reading a real book under low light until you start to feel tired again
So how did I get on? Has my sleep been significantly improved? I can confidently say yes! The room feels cosier, darker and warmer so is more a relaxing environment to sleep in. The bed itself is considerably more comforable now that I am sleeping on top of a soft mattress topper and uing memory foam pillows, and the bedding makes it a delight to slip into bed every night. Over the years, both my husband and I have struggled with getting to sleep but the tips I’ve been following have been very useful and we will continue to follow these relaxation tips to wind-down and maintain a calm bedtime routine.
I am very glad to have taken part in the sleep challenge and (with the exception of Christmas Eve when I always struggle to get to sleep because Santa is coming!) I am confident that I will continue to enjoy a great night’s sleep from now on!