HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1994-05-11, Page 15THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, MAY 11,1994. PAGE 15.
Home and Garden ’94 «*&*«*&**
Tips on how to make your bedroom user friendly
Sleeper friendly
According to sleep experts, the more we use our bedrooms
for challenging or stressful activities, such as paying the
bills, the harder it will be to get to sleep.
Is your bedroom designed for
sleep? In an age when family, work
and social obligations often force
us to compromise on the hours of
sleep we need, it's particularly
important that we get deep, restful
sleep when we do go to bed. That
means designing the bedroom to
promote certain environmental
conditions that are conducive to
good sleep - such as darkness,
quiet, temperature and comfort.
In addition to sleeping, many of
us use the bedroom for a variety of
other activities, including making
love, reading, watching TV,
working, talking on the telephone
and paying bills. What we don't
realize is that the more we use our
bedrooms for challenging or
stressful activities, the harder it will
be to get to sleep. To keep a
psychological distance between day
and night, it's best to confine work
and worries to another room and
save your bedroom for sleeping,
making love and relaxing reading.
Here are some ways you can help
make your bedroom more "sleeper-
- friendly":
Eliminate light cues
Most of us are conditioned to
sleep in darkness - the darker, the
better. Although we may not realize
it, street lights and the glow of a
full moon can trick our internal
clocks into thinking it's daytime,
making it difficult to fall asleep.
The early morning sun also can
stimulate our brains to full
wakefulness long before we want
to or need to rise.
The solution is light-blocking
shades and/or heavy draperies. If
you must sleep in the daytime, try
comfortable eyeshades.
Preserve the silence
We all vary in our tolerance to
sound intensity, but for most of us,
the sounds of heavy traffic, passing
aircraft, thunder, loud snoring and
other environmental noises will
move us from a deep sleep to a
lighter one or awaken us
completely.
If noise is an inescapable part of
your sleeping environment, mask it
with ear plugs or "white noise" -
the hum of a fan or air conditioner,
a recording of the surf or a
waterfall, or even a special white
noise machine. You can also
approximate the effect of white
noise by setting your radio to the
static found between stations.
Create comfort
Don't forget that what you sleep
on is an integral part of your sleep
environment. A bed that's too hard,
too soft, too small or just plain too
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old, will keep you from getting the
deep, restful sleep you need.
If your bed is older than eight or
10 years, it is no longer providing
the support and comfort you need,
even though you may be
desensitized to the subtle
deterioration that has taken place
over the years.
Also, if you share a bed, you
need at least a queen-size to
accommodate each partner's
movements without affecting the
other's sleep. In selecting a new
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bed, follow the Goldilocks rule"
Try a variety of mattresses and
choose the one that feels just right
for you.
Find the best temperature
Studies show that the ideal
temperature range for good sleep is
between 16°C and 18°C. Tempera
tures over 19°C can make us
restless - below 14°C will keep us
struggling for warmth under the
covers. Fresh air is a personal
preference, not a prerequisite for a
good night's sleep.
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