Trouble Sleeping? Optimize the Sleep Environment with these Tips

Photo by Mpho Mojapelo on Unsplash

Try these upgrades to your bedroom environment, and you may sleep a bit better.

• Minimize the noise, and make the room as dark as possible.
• Test different temperatures to discover which is most comfortable for you. Around 70°F (20°C) is best for most people.

Let’s examine these strategies in more detail. Concerning heat and noise, a well-designed study looked at the effects of daytime and nighttime exposure to heat and traffic noise on night sleep.

Temperature, Noise, and Sleep

During the day, researchers exposed eight subjects to a baseline condition (ambient temperature = 20 degrees C; no noise) or heat (35 degrees C) and noise. The duration of the daytime exposure was eight hours, ending five hours before sleep onset. The following nights, the subjects slept either in undisturbed (20 degrees C; no noise) or in noise, heat, or noise plus heat-disturbed environments.

During the day, the various traffic noise types were distributed at 48/h with peak intensities ranging between 79 and 86 dB(A). The background noise level was at 45 dB(A). At night, the peak intensities were reduced by 15 dB(A). The rate was diminished to 9/h, and the background noise was at 30 dB(A). The scientists continuously recorded…