The Best to rest: 7 tips to create the ultimate sleep environment
The importance of sleep cannot be understated, in fact, in my humble opinion, the importance of sleep is only trumped by the importance of physical exercise - not tortuous exercise, just consistent movement.
Having previously worked alongside a couple of NZ’s best sleep coaches, Gareth O’Donnel and Rachel Bowden, I was lucky enough to pick up on the following tips for a kick ass night's rest.
Caveat: I have recently been blessed with a beautiful baby daughter that on the day of writing this is all of 10 days old. I can confirm that a lot of this will not be possible for a few years at least!
There is more to our sleeping environment than meets the eye.
Fundamentally it's about temperature regulation, disruption elimination and association. Bedroom climate and the microclimate are responsible for controlling body temperature. In 2006 a researcher at Harvard went to study the difference between hunter-gatherers and modern human sleep patterns. After spending three months with the Sanin tribe in North Africa, he made an important discovery. Circadian alignment with light and exposure were prominent in their daily activities; however, darkness wasn't the cue to sleep, it was when the earth cooled that the tribe would sleep and when it began to heat again before daybreak that they rose.
This was an important discovery; it allowed us to understand a missing piece in the sleep puzzle.
Temperature dictates how fast and how long you can achieve delta wave sleep (deep sleep) for. This is where tools like AC, cyclone fans, cooling blankets in summer, hot showers for rapid cooling and heating agents in winter become very important to sleep performance
Emotional association to your sleeping space also plays an important role in sleep performance. The space you will spend most of your life in must be a place that promotes good health and restoration.
This is especially prominent with people who experience regular bouts of sleep disruption (waking in the night). Any negative association to your sleep space will ultimately result in a negative feedback loop.
7 tips for your environment are:
1. Temperature regulation: utilise fans, set A.C to 17-21 degrees, select appropriate bedding for the season.
2. If you wake for longer than 15mins, get up, move to a different location to read, podcast, or meditate.
3. Oxygen saturation ensures airflow is really good in your bedroom, so try adding plants for an extra oxygen boost. They will feed on your carbon dioxide.
4. A hot shower 15 mins before bed will rapidly cool your body for a faster transition into deep sleep.
5. If necessary, use an eye musk, earplugs or noise cancelling headphones to avoid excess noise and light.
6. Beautify your room with art, new bedding, aromas, whatever it takes for you to feel a sense of feng shui.
7. Remove all sources of light, use black out curtains - create pure darkness.
