Detox Your Bedroom and Enjoy the Benefits of a Great Night’s Sleep
Getting proper sleep is essential to your well-being. Benefits include strengthening your immune system, maintaining a healthy weight, lowering your risk for diabetes and heart disease, reducing stress, and thinking clearly.
A bedroom that is free of toxins, is comfortable and is your personal sanctuary will help ensure that you get the rest you need. It’s easy to detox your bedroom and create your own sacred space where you can leave the stresses and strains of your day – and the world – behind.
Simple changes include:
- Personalize your room.
- Be sure you have fresh, comfortable bedding.
- Eliminate blue light.
- Detoxify the air.
Personalize Your Room
Surround yourself with things you love, like photos of family and friends, and paintings of nature. Move anything that reminds you of work and things on your to-do list, like a filing cabinet or desk, to another room.
Be Sure You Have Fresh, Comfortable Bedding
Make sure your mattress, pillows and bedding are fresh, clean and invitingly comfortable. An old sagging mattress can leave you with an aching back – invest in a supportive mattress and be sure to rotate it regularly. Unwashed pillowcases can lead to clogged pores and allergic reactions, so wash your pillowcases frequently.
Pillowcases and pillow covers absorb dirt, oil, dead skin cells and sweat. Dust mites are microscopic insects that feed on dead skin cells and their waste. When breathed in, they can cause watery eyes, a runny or itchy nose, an itchy throat, coughing, or worsening of asthma.
Trapped dirt and oil can also cause acne breakouts. Launder your pillowcase or pillow cover often and avoid the build-up of dirt and oil that can clog your pores and lead to blemishes.
Eliminate Blue Light From TVs, Smartphones, Tablets and Computers
Blue light is a type of visible light with a wavelength between 300 and 500 nanometers. Computers, televisions, smartphones and tablets often emit blue light when they’re in use, which can make the brain think that it’s daytime. This can suppress the production of melatonin, a natural hormone that your body produces to regulate your circadian rhythm.
Circadian rhythm is the natural, internal process that regulates your sleep-wake cycle and repeats every 24 hours. The cycle can be affected by how much exposure you have to light. Therefore, an excess of light at night can affect your circadian rhythm and your sleep-wake cycle.
To avoid this physiological confusion, limit the amount of light you’re exposed to at night. Ideally, leave the TV in another room but, if you have a TV in your bedroom, be sure to turn it off at least an hour before you want to fall asleep.
Detoxify the Air
Lush plants, aromatic citrus oils and a Himalayan salt lamp are all great ways to detoxify the air. Clean air leads to better sleep.
Plants
Dark green, leafy plants not only add oxygen to the air, many plants also absorb harmful chemicals and pollutants. These can include formaldehyde, benzene, trichloroethylene and carbon monoxide given off by paints, cleaners and other products. English Ivy, Bamboo Palm and Aloe Vera are just a few of the wonderful choices that beautify and detoxify a room.
English Ivy is a classically elegant houseplant. Not only does it remove harmful chemicals from the air, it is also charming, can grow in full shade to full sun, can be trained into shapes, and is likely to survive for several years.
Bamboo Palm, aka Reed Palm, prefers part sun or shade, and aids in the removal of benzene and formaldehyde.
Aloe Vera plants are easy-to-grow succulents that thrive on lots of sun. They clean the air of benzene and formaldehyde and have an added benefit: the gel from a piece of broken or cut aloe can be used to treat minor burns.
Citrus Oils
Diffusing essential oils into the air can inhibit the growth of airborne bacteria and may reduce microbial contamination. Citrus oils are especially good for destroying airborne germs.
The most common ways to diffuse oils into the air are with an ultrasonic diffuser or a nebulizer. Generally, diffuse 3 to 5 drops of essential oil per 100 mL of water in an ultrasonic diffuser and 5 to 15 drops of essential oil in a nebulizer. A rule of thumb is to run the diffuser in your bedroom for 20 to 30 minutes a day.
Sweet orange, lemon and grapefruit essential oils are all antimicrobial and destroy airborne germs. These citrus oils are also beneficial to the liver and lymphatic systems, which help cleanse the blood of toxins.
Conifer oils like pine, spruce and fir contain pinene, a chemical compound with documented antibacterial properties. These oils help clear and support the lungs, which defend against airborne bacteria. Many people enjoy the refreshing outdoor scent conifer oils provide.
Himalayan Salt Lamp
A Himalayan salt lamp is also a great addition to a bedroom. Not only does it provide a calming effect and emit a color that is conducive to sleep, it also purifies the air by releasing negative ions. When a salt lamp heats up, it releases negative ions, which attach to dust particles in the air. Once the dust particles attach to these negative ions, they become heavy and fall to the ground, leaving the air free of dust and debris. Be sure to dust, vacuum or sweep the floor regularly to remove this dust and debris.
Simple Changes That Ensure Restful Sleep
Your bedroom is the last thing you see when you go to sleep and the first thing you see when you wake up, so:
- Surround yourself with things you love, like photos of family and friends, and paintings of nature.
- Move things that remind you of work to another place.
- Ensure your mattress, pillow and bedding are fresh and supportive.
- Remove the TV and other electronic devices (or at least power them off early in the evening).
- Beautify and detox your space with plants.
- Diffuse the air with essential oils.
- Add to the ambiance with a Himalayan salt lamp.
You don’t have to make all these adjustments to benefit. With just a few simple changes, you can detoxify your bedroom and ensure you get the healthful sleep you need.
Author: Ingrid Prueher, Holistic Sleep Coach