Could blackout blinds help you get a better nights sleep
Stewart Rennie - 15/01/2021
Getting a good night’s sleep is crucial to your health and well being. Not getting enough sleep can have
a negative impact health increasing rising your chances of obesity, heart disease and diabetes. Most
adults need between 7 and 9 hours of sleep a night to feel good and research shows that 1 in 3 of us fail
to get this. If it’s a case of sunlight waking you up too early in the morning or even preventing your
getting an early night then blackout blinds could help.
Here are a selection of things you can do
to get a better nights sleep:
MAKE YOUR BEDROOM SLEEP FRIENDLY
Light
Exposure to daylight during the day is critical to a good night's sleep. If you can’t easily get out into the daylight then you can buy a bright ‘SAD' lamp to make sure you are exposed to something approximating daylight light during the day. This helps to reinforce the difference between night and day and keep your body clock or cicardian rhythms in check.
Dark
Darkness makes the body release melatonin, which helps us to relax and drift off to sleep. As the days get longer the natural light in your bedroom increases in the evenings and in the early morning. If you are struggeling to get to sleep because of the light nights or being woken up at the crack of dawn by natural light then blackout blinds could be the answer.
Our perfect fit blackout blinds offer a total blackout solution for your bedroom. Blackout blinds are not just for babies bedrooms and toddlers - although if they sleep well, there’s a much improved chance of the parents sleeping well. A ‘blacked-out’ bedroom is the best environment for an undisturbed and full night’s sleep. At Phoenix Blinds we have a wide range of stylish blackout blinds that can help create a perfect sleeping environment in your bedroom.
Its also worth making sure light from laptops, phone and alarm clocks are suitably dimmed or turned away and are not disturbing your sleep.
Comfort
Make sure your matress and pillows are comfortable and you have the right tog level of duvet available to you.
Noise
Double glazing in your bedroom is perhaps the best way of blocking unwanted external noise but if you don’t or can’t have double glazing then try earplugs if you are regularly disturbed by external noise.
Room Temperature
Find a temperature that suit you - experts say that a cooler room of 16-18 degrees should aid sleep and the NHS advice suggests that a good temperature of between 18-24 degrees should help.
Winding down time
Start to wind down about an hour before bed. Yes we know it's tough when Line of Duty or the latest high adrenaline Scandi drama finishes at 10pm - but consider using 'catch-up TV' in order to enable you to protect the calmness of the later part of your evening.
Reduce the Blue Light
That’s the kind emitted by smart phones and laptops - it plays havoc with our circadian rhythms so they are best avoided before bed. If you can’t stay away from your phone try to use a blue light blocking app on your phone to help cut down on blue light before bed.
Caffeine
Its our favourite morning pick me up but an NHS study showed that just one coffee six hours before bed could knock upto an hour off your nightly sleep so probably best avoided late afternoon.
