The Centers for Disease Control recently reported that one in three adults in the United States doesn’t get enough sleep each night. While there are several different things you can do to help improve your quality of sleep, one of the easiest and most important is to evaluate your bedroom window treatments.
Why Sleep Problems Matter
Lack of sleep can create serious issues. Sleep does a number of different things for your body, both physically and mentally. Sleep literally helps your brain function as it should. When you sleep, your brain begins to prepare itself for the next day. It creates new connections to help you retain information. More sleep equals a better ability to learn, whether you’re trying to figure out that new computer system at work or you simply want to learn how to perfect your golf swing.
Sleep does more for your body than help you learn, though. It also gives you better problem solving ability and controls your emotions and behavior. Sleep deficiency has been linked to depression in multiple studies.
If you’re one of those suffering from sleep issues, it’s essential to get better sleep, and fast, but are there really any easy ways to do that?
Think Window Coverings
There are many things you can do to improve your sleep, but one of the most often recommended ones is to ensure the space in which you sleep is completely dark. Wondering why? Light has long been linked to the sleep cycle. When your body is exposed to light early in the day, it encourages you to wake up. It stimulates your alertness, and it helps send energy to the rest of your body. Unfortunately, we’re exposed to far too much light today. The absence of light should send a signal to your body that it’s time to rest. If you get too much light when you’re trying to rest, your internal clock is altered, and that can change your sleep-wake cycle.
Think you don’t have a source of light in your bedroom as you’re trying to rest? You may want to think again. Street lights and even bright moonlight can affect your quality of sleep, and one of the easiest changes you can make if you want to sleep better is to select bedroom window treatments that fully block out the light. One of the best window treatments for bedrooms is blackout curtains.
Unlike some other window covering choices today, blackout curtains aren’t quite as concerned with being fashionable. Instead, their primary goal is to block the light in your room. They’re made from thick, tightly woven material, but that doesn’t mean they’re super heavy. Instead, they’re just heavy enough to block out as much light as possible.
Blackout curtains don’t just reduce the amount of light coming into your room, though. They offer additional benefits too. They can reduce the amount of noise coming in from the outside, which may also help to improve your quality of sleep. Many studies have suggested that external noise, like that you may hear from the traffic outside your room, can actually cause poor sleep. Reducing that noise level, then, may mean making it a more relaxing place.
Blackout curtainsalso have an additional advantage. They can offer some measure of temperature control, too. Not sure why that matters for sleep? Your body temperature can impact the quality of sleep you get each night. Ever had a summer night when your room was so warm you had trouble falling asleep? If you’ve experienced that, you know that sleep and temperature can go hand in hand. Blackout curtains, though, are made from a material that helps to control the climate. That means you won’t find your bedroom temperature changing because of the outside air. A move like that may mean a better night’s sleep every night.
It can be hard to find the best curtains for your bedroom, but if you’re one of the millions who experience sleep problems on a regular basis, blackout curtains may be the answer you’ve been looking for. To learn more about your bedroom window covering options or for a bit of advice on window treatments in any space in your home, contact us today.