6 Steps to a Healthier Bedroom
Follow these six easy bedroom tips to create a soothing space that improves your health, sleep and wellbeing
Victoria Harrison
7 January 2019
Editor, Houzz UK and Ireland
Want to make your bedroom healthier? If you’re struggling to drift off at night, try these six bedroom changes to help improve your sleep.
1. Treat yourself to natural bedding
Overheating at night or being too cold can impact the quality and amount of sleep you get, so think about the type of bedding you’re snoozing beneath.
Choosing a doona cover in a natural fibre, such as cotton or linen, will help regulate your body temperature throughout the night and should keep you more comfortable than a synthetic material. The same goes for your sleepwear, pillows, sheets and throws.
Browse more beautiful bedrooms
Overheating at night or being too cold can impact the quality and amount of sleep you get, so think about the type of bedding you’re snoozing beneath.
Choosing a doona cover in a natural fibre, such as cotton or linen, will help regulate your body temperature throughout the night and should keep you more comfortable than a synthetic material. The same goes for your sleepwear, pillows, sheets and throws.
Browse more beautiful bedrooms
2. Give it a coat of natural paint
Consider the paint you use in the bedroom to improve its overall health. To minimise the chemicals you’ll be breathing in overnight, choose a VOC-free paint for your bedroom walls, ceiling and woodwork.
Soothing colours also work better than invigorating shades, so try to choose hues based on how they make you feel, rather than following trends too closely when it comes to decorating your bedroom.
Consider the paint you use in the bedroom to improve its overall health. To minimise the chemicals you’ll be breathing in overnight, choose a VOC-free paint for your bedroom walls, ceiling and woodwork.
Soothing colours also work better than invigorating shades, so try to choose hues based on how they make you feel, rather than following trends too closely when it comes to decorating your bedroom.
3. Choose plants wisely
Plants in the bedroom divide opinion: some people love them, others worry they could remove oxygen from the room at night.
However, there’s a small group of plants that are perfect for sleep spaces, as they release oxygen at night, so can help keep the air clean and healthy. Among these are Aloe vera and Sansevieria trifasciata (snake plant or mother-in-law’s tongue), both of which scored highly in NASA’s Clean Air Study of 1989, which is still regarded by many as the leading piece of research in this field.
Indoor Air Pollution: Is Your Home Making You Sick?
Plants in the bedroom divide opinion: some people love them, others worry they could remove oxygen from the room at night.
However, there’s a small group of plants that are perfect for sleep spaces, as they release oxygen at night, so can help keep the air clean and healthy. Among these are Aloe vera and Sansevieria trifasciata (snake plant or mother-in-law’s tongue), both of which scored highly in NASA’s Clean Air Study of 1989, which is still regarded by many as the leading piece of research in this field.
Indoor Air Pollution: Is Your Home Making You Sick?
4. Beef up your curtains and blinds
Many factors contribute to a good night’s sleep, but a crucial element is making sure the light levels are right in your bedroom. If you need a dark sleep space to really switch off, make sure you invest in blockout curtains that reach the floor. You could also double-up with a blind to make sure no light pollution from street lamps or passing cars creeps through.
Look out for other sneaky sources of light in the bedroom, too. LED clock displays or gadget chargers with tiny lights that flash throughout the night, for example, can also be irritants.
How Do I… Choose Window Treatments?
Many factors contribute to a good night’s sleep, but a crucial element is making sure the light levels are right in your bedroom. If you need a dark sleep space to really switch off, make sure you invest in blockout curtains that reach the floor. You could also double-up with a blind to make sure no light pollution from street lamps or passing cars creeps through.
Look out for other sneaky sources of light in the bedroom, too. LED clock displays or gadget chargers with tiny lights that flash throughout the night, for example, can also be irritants.
How Do I… Choose Window Treatments?
5. Say goodbye to tech
Fed up with feeling tired but wired at night? If you want to properly unwind before bed, it’s worth keeping tech screens away from the bedroom. Too much exposure to the blue light that many screens emit can interfere with the production of melatonin, which can lead to that feeling of your mind being awake when your body needs to rest.
Try leaving your mobile phone outside the bedroom at night to limit exposure to blue light or, if that’s too big a step, switch it to night mode, which dials down the blue light in favour of warmer tones.
Fed up with feeling tired but wired at night? If you want to properly unwind before bed, it’s worth keeping tech screens away from the bedroom. Too much exposure to the blue light that many screens emit can interfere with the production of melatonin, which can lead to that feeling of your mind being awake when your body needs to rest.
Try leaving your mobile phone outside the bedroom at night to limit exposure to blue light or, if that’s too big a step, switch it to night mode, which dials down the blue light in favour of warmer tones.
6. Consider anti-allergy flooring
If you suffer from allergies, installing hard flooring in a bedroom could be a better option than carpet, which can harbour dust and allergens.
This beautiful bedroom has a wooden floor that can be swept and mopped easily, as well as a raised bed and simple, framed furniture that’s easy to clean underneath.
If you already have carpet and can’t stretch to new flooring, try to keep clutter to a minimum in the bedroom to limit the opportunities for dust to gather.
Tell us
Have you improved your bedroom’s health? Tell us how in the Comments below, like this story, share it with your bedroom companion, and join the conversation.
More
Keen to revamp your bedroom but not sure where to start? Find an interior designer or decorator near you
If you suffer from allergies, installing hard flooring in a bedroom could be a better option than carpet, which can harbour dust and allergens.
This beautiful bedroom has a wooden floor that can be swept and mopped easily, as well as a raised bed and simple, framed furniture that’s easy to clean underneath.
If you already have carpet and can’t stretch to new flooring, try to keep clutter to a minimum in the bedroom to limit the opportunities for dust to gather.
Tell us
Have you improved your bedroom’s health? Tell us how in the Comments below, like this story, share it with your bedroom companion, and join the conversation.
More
Keen to revamp your bedroom but not sure where to start? Find an interior designer or decorator near you
What are you working on?
Related Stories
Most Popular
Key Measurements for a Dream Bedroom
By HouzzAU
Learn the dimensions that will help your bed, side tables and other bedroom furniture fit neatly in your space
Full Story
Most Popular
3 Designers Reveal Where to Spend and Save in a Bedroom Redesign
By Cheryl F
We asked three UK interior designers which elements they think are worth investing in for a good night’s sleep
Full Story
Most Popular
12 Decorating Tips to Make Any Bedroom Look Better
By Anne Ellard
Want to know how to make your bedroom look better? Here are 12 great tricks
Full Story
Renovation Guides
Room by Room: Experts on Ways to Avoid Common Renovation Blunders
From the kitchen to the garden, and all areas in between, experts identify common mistakes and share priceless insights
Full Story
Most Popular
How to Control the Cost of Your Renovation, Room by Room
Where to save, where to spend (and all the tricks in between) for keeping the cost of your renovation on track
Full Story
Wardrobes
An Insider's Guide to Walk-In Wardrobe Measurements
Take a look at essential wardrobe measurements, along with some considerations to guarantee your 'robe is well designed
Full Story
Most Popular
How to Get a Good Night's Sleep (According to Science)
Sleep scientist Dr Carmel Harrington reveals exactly how to get enough rest for optimum health and productivity
Full Story
Decorating
How to Create a Colourful, Yet Calm, Bedroom
By Kate Burt
Let the experts show you how to pep up the palette in your sleeping space like a pro
Full Story
Small Spaces
Pro Panel: 4 Experts' Secrets to Making the Most of Tiny Bedrooms
A compact bedroom can still be a dream space with a bit of thoughtful planning, as these professionals explain
Full Story
Seasonal
Your Summer Bedroom: How to Keep Your Cool on Steamy Nights
By Janet Dunn
Don't let tossing, turning and tangled sheets spoil your sleep this summer
Full Story
'Say goodbye to tech'- definitely, I always feel like my best nights of sleep are the ones when I've shut down all tech a few hours before sleeping. Such a difference. Would add one thing to the list- the colour of your artificial lighting. The closer to natural daylight the better- more on the yellow scale, less on the white.
Melanie, i suggest you try wool-filled duvets and pillows. I'd never go back to a down duvet now; wool resists damp and also doesn't harbour dust mites, it feels warm but breathes brilliantly in warm weather... I also have a wool-filled mattress protector, which is great: i'm sleeping on wool as well as under it.
Thank you for this very interesting article! I didn't know that the paint could have an impact on the breathing quality.