SPECIAL SECTION: FOR YOUR HOME
If you focus on improving your sleep, then your quality of life and your future health improves measurably.
ECLIPSE IMAGES / GETTYIMAGES. COM
The bedroom basics
Beautiful linen and furniture might be nice, but more important is keeping clutter out of the bedroom.“ Everyone’ s a bit different, but generally my advice is to keep the space clean and tidy with as few obstacles and distractions as possible,” Dr Bradbeer says.“ You want to know that you can get to bed without obstruction, or thinking,‘ I really need to tidy up in here’. You want to enter with a sigh of relief [ thinking ],‘ It’ s time to go to bed now’.”
In fact, Dr Bradbeer even likes to see bedside tables relatively sparse.“ There could be a clock that you can turn the back lighting off so that there’ s no actual time displayed and perhaps a light that can be turned on, and not much else,” he says.“ People should be optimistic that when they go to bed, they’ re going to have a great night’ s sleep – that’ s all they’ re going to do.”
Research suggests that darkness combined with a room temperature of between 17 and 19 degrees Celsius are ideal for good sleep, but Dr Moira Junge, CEO of the Sleep Health Foundation, reminds us that there’ s no“ one size fits all” sleep space.
“ Everyone is different – for example, I find it easy to sleep in Darwin, but my husband complains it’ s too hot,” she points out.“ I encourage people to be their own personal scientist, setting up experiments and reviewing [ the results ].”
The device debate
Scrolling our devices can be very stimulating, so Dr Junge says the typical advice is to keep devices out of your bedroom.
“ If it’ s nearby and the temptation to look at it is too much or interfering with your sleep, then you might need it out of the room,” she says.
But like most sleep advice, Dr Junge says you need to interpret the‘ rules’ individually.“ When my kids became teenagers, I wanted to know they could contact me if they were out at night [ so I had my phone in my room ],” she explains.“ So I think you need to consider the pros and cons for you of it being within arm’ s reach.”
If you can handle having your phone by your bed without checking emails at 3am or going down a TikTok rabbit hole, then it might even be a sleep promoter.“ Devices can be useful for meditative sounds or voices as you go to sleep,” Dr Bradbeer says.“ But if you’ re not sleeping well, there may be a lot to be gained by leaving devices out of the room and using a clock that is not internetconnected for an alarm.”
Dr Junge says that our sleep quality is often closely related to our stress levels.“ Sleep is multifaceted – you’ ve got to manage your relationships and your stress, your circadian rhythm and your social support,” she explains. So as much as some quality bedding, blackout blinds, a reliable thermostat and screentime boundaries can be helpful, it’ s crucial that we gift ourselves space to rest.“ We have to value sleep, prioritise it, personalise it and protect it,” Dr Junge says.“ I think we’ ve got to remember the first principles of [ sleep being ] reducing stress, reducing our workloads, delegating and creating space.”
COSTCO CONNECTION
Find items to help you create a restful bedroom environment in warehouses and on Costco. com. au.
22 | SEP / OCT 2024 COSTCO CONNECTION