Keep it cool
The ideal bedroom temperature is around 16°C (60°F) and anything above 18°C (65°F) can negatively affect sleep quality. It’s better to keep your bedroom colder and have a thicker blanket than sleep in a warm room. Consider buying air conditioning if you get too many warm nights a year.
Make it quiet
Your circadian rhythm takes cues not only from light and dark but also from noise. Early morning birds chirping are a signal that it is time to reduce melatonin production, ramp up cortisol, and wake up. Make sure to sleep with windows closed or with ear plugs if you live on a busy street.
Eliminate all sources of light
You can read more about this in the previous article but let’s sum it up. Wear amber-coloured glasses that block blue light or switch your lighting to something in the yellow and red spectrum (or start using candles). Get blackout shades. Cover your digital alarm clock or get an analogue one and turn off all digital devices that glow or give off any type of light. Avoiding blue light before sleep and ideally all light at night is the goal.
Get a good mattress
If you’ve ever been camping or slept in a bad hotel, you probably know that sleeping on a bad mattress makes a difference. And research confirms this. A systematic review from 2015 shows that a mattress that is subjectively identified as a medium-firm and is custom inflated (self-adjusted) is optimal for promoting sleep comfort, quality, and spinal alignment. Consider buying a new mattress, especially if you’re feeling achy and stiff after waking up.
Make it a place for sleeping and sex only
How you use your bedroom matters too. If you use it as your temporary office, your cinema, and lounging area you will always have a harder time falling asleep there. Sleep and sex are the primary two things that should be done in a bedroom. If you stick to those, then simply walking into your bedroom can serve as a cue for sleep.
