Prep Your Bedroom for Better Sleep

AD: In Collaboration with Sheridan

During this pandemic I have been reading more and more about how many of us are getting less sleep. This is completely understandable due to rising anxiety levels and this very unusual situation we find ourselves in.
We all have our personal worries and anxieties, and one of the things that can help ease these slightly, is good sleep, but the kicker is, that anxiety often causes insomnia or bad quality sleep, a frustrating cycle.

But there are ways to help improve your sleep, like winding down in the evenings and preparing your bedroom to be a relaxing environment. I’ve researched and summarised some tips and information for this piece, but there is so much more available online, so read to the end for for some useful links to more in-depth articles and resources that I have found.

Wind Down

One of the most important things is to prepare your body and brain for sleep, and this means winding down. Find the thing that relaxes you and distracts your brain from your busy day. A relaxing bath, some stretches, reading, or listening to an audio book before bed can all help. Writing your to do lists for the next day will organise your thoughts and get it out of your head and onto paper, and the age-old advice of avoiding screens right before bed still stands.

If you can, try to stick to a regular sleep pattern - waking up at the same time every day. programmes the brain and internal body clock to get used to a set routine.

Prep Your Bedroom For Better Sleep

There’s a strong association between sleep and our bedrooms, so try to make your bedroom a relaxing environment to be. If you have been working from home in your bedroom, make sure you have set it up so that you can easily hide or clear away your work day before bed.

A good bed, mattress and pillows are essential, but the smaller details make a huge difference too, like comfortable, fresh covers and sheets. A tidy space is also hugely beneficial, seeing clutter just before you settle in for the night can cause anxiety and distract the mind.

Main Bedroom Mini-Makeover

The main bedroom in my home has quite a few architectural features, the large window, exposed and painted beams and the sloped ceiling, so I usually keep it minimal in here with no clutter or fuss, but I found that adding just a few softer items, made the bedroom feel more calming and relaxing. Sheridan UK gifted the beautifully soft Tencel duvet cover, pillow covers and throw, and I was inspired to add just a few more pieces, like the artwork, bedside lamps, vases and bench to the room. The rug under the bed also added a much needed element of softness.

The artwork is an architectural illustration for the movie Parasite, not the most romantic choice for a bedroom, I admit! But my husband and I both loved the movie - he works in film, and I just fell in love with the modern house the film is set in. I used Photoshop to manipulate the colours in the poster to the tones I wanted, and that worked with the wall colour, and had it printed. The clean graphic artwork inspired the shapes I chose for the vases and lights on the bedsides. I was going for a modern take on a calm still-life painting.

The wall colour is Paint and Paper Library’s Steel IV, and I love how clean whites look next to it, so I used a lot of white in the accessories and bench at the end of the bed. I added some texture with the super-soft Dalmar faux fur throw in Smoke and the huge 65x65cm cushions with Earley Covers in Dove, which are so cosy for leaning against to read.

Scent in the bedroom can also aid sleep. I love fresh eucalyptus everywhere, but more common scents that will help you drift off, are lavendar, chamomile and begamot.

Flexible lighting in the bedroom is also great, if you can plan it in to a renovation with various circuits for pendants, spots and floor lighting, as I have done in this room - or you can achieve a similar result with plug-in lamps and pendants if you are not renovating. Being able to dim the lighting as you get ready for bed, will start to prepare your body for sleep.

This post contains gifted items as part of a brand collaboration. The Tencel duvet cover and pillowcases and the Earley cushion covers were gifted by Sheridan, and the fur throw was a loan. The Bran rug was previously gifted by Brintons, Agnella as part of a previous collaboration.



















Tash South