Any day is a good day to refresh your sleeping environment. Make better sleep a New Year’s resolution, get into the spirit of spring cleaning or celebrate your anniversary with a fresh start and more energy with your partner. There’s even a National Clean Your Room Day—it’s May 10, and it’s the real deal. But we’re not talking about a simple dust and fluff for your bedding. Achieving better quality sleep for couples often requires you to redesign bedroom layout from top to bottom and make some bold changes in your sleep environment. We’ve dug into information on how to arrange your room for a better night’s sleep as well as sleep habits that help improve overall health for you and your partner.
Redesign Your Bedroom Layout for Better Sleep
Get ready to turn your room into the perfect sleep environment for two. Start with removing furniture and appliances that can hinder your best sleep, and arrange the pieces you keep to optimize rest and relaxation.
Say Goodbye to Bedtime Binge-Watching
One of the first steps you need to take to redesign your bedroom layout is to remove the television. Yes, your beloved TV, may be there every night wishing you both sweet dreams with your favorite shows, but it is also emitting unhealthy blue light. Not only does having a TV in your room keep you up later with entertainment, but blue light and the overall brightness of a room also disrupts your sleep cycle.
Some couples also get into the unhappy habit of one person watching a late-night show while the other tries to fall asleep, and that can lead to poor sleep quality and annoyance. You don’t want that in your home, let alone in your bed. So, cuddle up with your sweetheart for one last movie night, then banish your TV (and other blue light-emitting devices) from the bedroom. While you’re removing the TV, that also means you can remove the stand that it sits on. If that stand collects other clutter, then that’s even better.
Put Your Bed in the Right Place
There are several theories on the best bedroom Feng Shui. Some say that facing your bed west will give you the best sleep while others focus on its position in relation to doors and objects. There’s a strong consensus that you definitely do not want to face the bedroom door when you’re in bed—that is obviously not relaxing because it can open at any moment and disrupt your sleep.
So, how do you arrange your bed to achieve the best sleep environment for couples? If space allows, place the head of your bed against a wall that runs perpendicular with a window and is offset from the door. That way, you get all the benefits of natural light during the morning and you have a clear view of the door without it staring you down every night.
Set the Right Mood With Lighting
Mood lighting isn’t just for your favorite date night restaurant. It’s important to have the right mood lighting and the ability to make the room very dark when you want to get better sleep. Light is the single most important environmental factor affecting our ability to sleep, so consider this as you redesign a room layout. Your senses need to transition into resting after a long day, just like you need to wind down for bed with your own relaxing rituals, like yoga, reading, skincare, etc. Lighting plays an important role in this nightly transition.
Soft and warm lighting sets a restful and serene mood in your bedroom, making it easier for your body when you go from light to dark. They make several different “mood lights” specifically for the bedroom. Something with low-wattage or lights on the red end of the spectrum work well. Pink Himalayan salt lamps work well for this purpose, as do warm-toned stringed lights. Each evening, turn off any bright overhead lights—especially if they are cool-toned LED or fluorescents—and turn on one of these dim, warm light options to get into a sleepy mood.
Create the Perfect Sleep Environment for Couples
Once you and your partner have done the heavy lifting of redesigning the layout of your bedroom, it’s time to add the details that will turn this part of your home into the best sleep environment you could ask for. Sometimes this involves selecting the right linens and décor, but it starts with changing the way you perceive your bedroom and your approach to sleeping as a couple.
Remember That Your Room Serves a Purpose
You cook in a kitchen, you dine in a dining room, you work in your office—you get where we’re going with this. Each room serves a purpose, and sometimes we easily lose sight of the purpose of a bedroom. The bedroom should be a place for sleep and sex only. We can’t say this enough. In fact, if you’re reading along with our blog, you’ve probably heard it before. As you bring décor and furniture into your newly arranged bedroom, ask yourselves if this object helps you relax and prepare for sleep.
Prior to unpacking, after you redesign the room layout, visualize the most relaxing and aesthetically pleasing version of your space. Imagine a cozy, inviting place that welcomes sleep and rest at any time you see fit. Put away any work-related items, laptops and other devices or cluttered piles of clean clothes. Leave these tension-inducing habits at the door. Having an uncluttered space puts your brain at ease. Your refreshed bedroom is a place for positive routines, healthy habits and to practice relaxation as you prepare the perfect sleep environment for a great night’s sleep.
Create a Cool, Cave-Like Environment
Have you ever noticed how hard it can be to fall asleep in the summer? You and your partner move around all night, just trying to get comfortable. You feel sweaty and restless, and definitely anything but cozy. That’s because your body temperature drops as you sleep, so it’s important that you’re not overheating while going through your sleep cycle. As a result, when you sleep in an environment that is too warm, you toss and turn due to overheating.
Start the temperature in your bedroom anywhere from 60 to 67 degrees when you’re ready for bed and adjust according to your comfort levels. It might take some time to find the magic number that turns your bedroom into the perfect sleep environment, especially as a couple. The most important thing is that you find a temperature that helps both of you achieve deep, quality sleep.
Invest in High-Quality Linens
Sliding into a clean and cozy bed with your favorite sheets is a relaxing feeling everyone can relate to. It makes sense to invest in the highest-quality products you can afford because you’re essentially paying for a good night’s sleep. Choose materials that are comfortable to you and your partner. As you shop for linens, look for options that fit your local climate, regulate temperature and help wick away any humidity. Natural fibers like cotton, bamboo and linen are very breathable, as are some performance synthetics.
Most sheets and pillowcases are categorized by thread count, which indicates how densely the fabric is woven. The thread count number is simply the number of threads that fit into one inch of fabric. The higher the thread count, the smoother and more luxurious the linens…up to a point. For most couples, 500-800 thread-count sheets are the sweet spot.
Make Your Bedroom a Noise-Free Zone
Eliminate, reduce, and block noise. Loud sounds can distract you from sleeping or startle you awake. However, depending on the person, a room that’s “too quiet” may be just as much of a problem as a room that’s too noisy. This is because an otherwise silent sleep environment seems to amplify occasional sounds. You know what that’s like. You’re almost asleep when all of a sudden the neighbor takes out their trash late at night. You jolt awake, even though during the day you’d barely notice them among all the other daytime noises.
If you or your partner have a hard time sleeping in a quiet room, try playing white-noise when trying to fall asleep. White-noise will typically soothe you to sleep faster and helps your body sleep through small noises that may normally wake you up. White noise is easy to come by. Turn on a fan, play some very quiet instrumental music or invest in a white noise machine. You might think of them as nursery appliances, but you want to sleep like a baby, right? It can be fun to listen to the different sounds together and pick the ambient noises that help make your room the best sleep environment for you as a couple.
Putting It All Together
Getting your best night’s sleep is all about being able to make adjustments to your bedroom, your perspective on sleep and even your mattress. As you create a new start with your bedroom, upgrade your sleep experience with an adjustable isense Refresh mattress that gives couples their best night’s sleep every night. Now that you know our expert tips for turning your room into the perfect sleep environment as a couple, it’s time to put these insights into practice.
Happy redesigning!
