Top Tips to Make Your Bed Better for Sleep

Sleep plays an important role in maintaining your wellbeing, supporting healthy function of the brain and promoting your physical health. A lack of sleep can lead to both immediate and long term issues, affecting the way you think, learn and work.

Your bed can make or break your sleep quality. A key part in sustaining a good night’s rest is therefore having an environment that promotes sleep. Before, we’ve explored how to optimise your bedroom for sleep, this guide will now take you through top tips to improve your bed for sleep.

Tip 1: Make Your Bed Every Day

Whilst making the bed may seem like just a routine chore, results from a National Sleep Foundation Bedroom Poll show that it might hold more benefits than just this. Many of the respondents in the poll believed that having a clean and neat bedroom environment is an important part of getting a good night’s rest – 62% saying that a clean bedroom makes a difference to the sleep experience. 

Whilst it’s unclear exactly why this is, those in the poll who made their bed regularly were 19% more likely to have a good night’s sleep. Therefore, a key ingredient to healthy sleep could be making your bed every day.  

Tip 2: Invest in Your Mattress

Your mattress makes up a big part of your bed, and therefore your sleep. It supports your body as you switch off for the night, and plays a major role in the overall comfort of your bed. By investing in a good-quality mattress, you’re investing in your quality of sleep. 

Experts have claimed that mattresses 5 to 7 years old are likely to not be providing users with the optimum level of support and comfort. When considering how to optimise your bed for sleep, you should therefore always think of how long you’ve had your mattress for, and whether you’re due an upgrade.

You should consider replacing your mattress when noticing the following:

• You’ve had your mattress for 5 to 7 years +
• Your bed isn’t big enough (e.g. if you sleep with a partner)
• You have regular aches and pains when waking up
• Your bed isn’t comfortable to sleep in 

Tip 3: Get Bedding That Suits Your Needs

Another great way to help optimise your bed for sleep is to get bedding that accommodates for your sleeping behaviours. If you get very hot or cold in the night, it’s best to pick your bedding materials in accordance with this.

When shopping for sheets, it’s worth exploring the variety options available, including different materials, their textures and thread counts to find the ones that appeal to you the most.

Tip 4: Explore Weighted Blanket Options  

Studies have linked the use of weighted blankets to reduced stress and anxiety levels, as well as increased quality and quantity of sleep. They provide proprioceptive input – our brain’s need to place the body within its environment, which can reduce feelings of restlessness, and essentially promote a sense of calm.

Weighted blankets can make the perfect addition to any bed, with a range of different sizes and colours available. Calming Blanket offer weighted blankets for both adults and kids, as well as multiple covers for different temperature preferences.

When picking the best weighted blanket for you, it’s important to explore the options available, learning what weight and size you’d prefer, as well as the benefits they can bring to your sleeping environment, and subsequently your sleep.   

Sources:

https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health-topics/sleep-deprivation-and-deficiency

https://www.sleepfoundation.org/bedroom-environment/touch/make-your-bed-better-sleep

https://bettersleep.org/better-sleep/the-ideal-bedroom/

https://sleepcouncil.org.uk/can-a-weighted-blanket-help-you-sleep/