The Bedroom: Where Mental Health Meets Physical
The bedroom is the heart of the home, and there’s nowhere in your house you should feel more comfortable, calm, and at peace. Your home, especially your bedroom, is supposed to be a safe reprieve from the outside world. It’s your own little haven for you to live with your family, pets, or even by yourself.
Keeping it organized and neat can easily feel like a chore, so we’ve compiled a list of 5 easy tips for you to keep in mind as you decorate and maintain your room. How calm and rested you feel in your room will readily translate to other areas of life. A good night’s sleep starts in the bedroom, and your bedroom starts with you. Our tips center on the idea of “mind of matter,” meaning that you can try and play little tricks on your brain to help you subconsciously feel a certain way. In our case, that certain way is comfortable!
- Work Versus Play
One of the most important things to keep in mind when setting up your bedroom is that you should keep it a place to rest. If you’re subconsciously associating your bedroom with work and similar stress, you’ll just be wired up and unable to sleep. A bedroom should, as best as possible, be associated with relaxation, so you can fully unwind from the long day. If you don’t have any extra area in your home to act as a study space, try to keep your work limited to a desk or table and a bookshelf; don’t try and work from your bed, or you risk being too comfortable to be productive or not being able to ever associate your bed with sleep. If your work spills onto the floor, chairs, and bed, you might want to consider how that reflects on the hold it has over your life. Obviously it’s important to prioritize your career, but when it’s time to sleep, you’ll want to keep your computer and tablet far away from your bed. Leave any lingering stress or frustration with your work day at your work station. Once you reach your bedroom (specifically, your bed) you should prioritize rest!
- Personalize
Don’t waste money on furniture and decorations just because they’re part of a current trend. Invest in things that you love, even if that means spending a little more, because it will save you money in the long run as you’re not constantly shuffling decorations around and replacing things. For example, get some comfortable and cool memory foam pillows for your bed. The more your room feels like a safe and comfy space for you, the happier and better-rested you will be.
- Private Time
This point as well as point #2 are especially important to keep in mind for your kids, particularly if they share a room. On a similar note, if you share a room with a partner, you’ll want to be respectful of their personal tastes as well as their needs for space. If you can’t be totally at peace alone in your bedroom, seek out another area of the house you can be by yourself, like a den or an office; but that said, make sure you’re comfortable enough with whoever shares you room to feel safe and in touch with yourself. Maintaining a private space will help you feel more comfortable with yourself and more independent, whether it’s your actual bedroom or not. Again, these are important to keep in mind for growing kids, too.
- Be Screen-Free
As much as technology and electronics might have a bad rep these days, there are plenty of valid reasons to keep technology nearby you in your bedroom. These days a phone can act as a computer, radio, alarm clock, and more. There’s nothing to be ashamed of if you want to keep your phone in arm’s reach for those reasons – but it’s been scientifically proven that staring at bright screens release hormones that your brain releases when it’s daytime, making it harder for you to fall asleep. So once you’re done checking Facebook for the night, put your phone away, facedown on your nightstand, so you’re not tempted to pick it up again if it lights up (even, or especially, on your 1am run to the bathroom). Similarly, it’s alright if you have a TV that plays in the background to lull you to sleep, but the farther that screen is from your sensitive eyes, the better!
- Keep it Clean(ish)
We’re not your parents, and it’s not up to us to nag you to keep your room clean. But we can take a pretty good guess that if your room is kept relatively neat, you’ll feel better being in there. We recommend you invest in a nice candle or an air freshener that fills your room with a fresh, familiar smell. Try not leave dirty laundry, or even clean laundry, heaped in piles on the floor. Change your sheets once in a while, and maybe even try and make your bed every day. Most importantly, open a window! Don’t let your room get stuffy. A nice breeze can make a big difference in how welcoming and comfortable your room is.
We know that your room is supposed to be something you don’t have to think about, so we hope these tips are easy enough for you to incorporate into your daily life. It’s not rocket science. Your bedroom is your own space, and while you don’t need to be obsessive about vacuuming it every single day, keeping it somewhat neat and taking good care of it will help you become more familiar with taking care of yourself.
Comment below how these tips have helped you out, or if you have any more you'd like to share!
