How To Create A Sleep Optimized Bedroom

There are 8 specific simple steps you can take to turn your bedroom into a “sleep-optimized” zone...

1. Remove Furniture, Toys, And Clutter In Your Bedroom.

Your bedroom should be for sleep and sex only... absolutely nothing else!

Get rid of clutter... toys... superfluous pictures... unnecessary furniture... anything that could possibly distract you in any way from the only legitimate business of the bed room.

If you watch television, or use a computer, in bed - you’re killing your sleep-system! They keep your mind awake and thinking hard... they’ll anchor feelings of wakefulness to your bed... you’ll get the notion in your mind that bed is where you think, not sleep.

Stay away from the bed during the day...don’t lie on it when reading or using the telephone - again you’ll be creating the same poor association: that the bed is where you think and do activities, instead of sleep.

2. Sleep In TOTAL Darkness.

Sleep in total darkness.

As you now know, even the smallest little bit of light will start increasing your melatonin levels.

Don’t use a night-light and don’t turn on the bath-room light if you have to get up in the middle of the night (or use a very weak light if it’s too dark).

Use heavy curtains or blinds, if there is any outside source of light, such as street-lights.

3. Get Maximum Light Upon Wakening.

When you’re getting up in the morning, you need to start increasing your light-intake immediately.

The moment you wake up, open your curtains or blind - immediately!

Do it before you do ANYTHING else.

4. Get A “Super-Bed”.

Since you’re going to spend a third of your life in it, invest in a high-quality bed, with a memory-mattress to promote good posture and keep an air-flow under you.

5. Change The Color Of Your Room.

The color violet has been shown to bring on a peaceful and serene mood and turquoise has been shown to sooth and refresh... certainly unusual colors for bedroom walls, but every little helps!

6. Lower Your Room Temperature.

Keep your bedroom cool.

As you might have now guessed, a lower room temperature means a lower body temperature for you, which, of course, means you’ll fall asleep faster and more soundly.

If your room is very hot or humid, you’ll have difficulty falling asleep because your body temperature won’t be able to fall as quickly as it otherwise would.

Of course, you shouldn’t go to extremes either: If the room is too cold, you won’t be able to fall asleep at all, because your body will be busy trying to warm you up!

7. Have No Alarm Clock (Or Other Electrical Items) Within 3-Feet.

There is evidence to suggest that electrical devices can interfere with your sleep patterns. In some very electro-sensitive persons, they also interfere with their waking patterns too!

Remove all electrical devices from your bed-room. If you must use a mains-powered alarm-clock, keep it as far away from you as possible to minimize your potential exposure.

(Actually, many people put their alarm-clock at the other side of the room so that, when it goes off, they have no choice but to get out of bed to turn it off... that’s not a very good way to wake yourself up in the morning but it’s certainly a guaranteed to pull you out of bed pretty quick!)

8. Put A Few Drops Of Lavender Oil On Your Pillow.

A psychiatrist at Smallwood Day Hospital in Worcestershire, England uses lavender oil on patients with anxiety problems.

Studies have shown it to calm brain-waves and induce a relaxation response.

Researchers in North Carolina sprayed it in certain carriages in the New York subway. The number of aggressive acts carried out in those carriages immediately halved.

Use a good-quality, pure oil; avoid synthetics. Lavender is available at any good health-food store or pharmacy.

Before you get into bed, put a few drops onto your pillow for an almost instant relaxing effect.