Design the Perfect Sleep Environment

Dear Fabulous Traveler,

You enter a dimly lit room, to the light scent of lavender. Soft music plays as you lay down on clean, crisp bed sheets. Your eyelids become heavy as your limbs melt into the mattress. All the stresses of the day lift and your mind unwinds completely. Sleep gently envelops you as you drift away.

Doesn't this sound enticing, Fabulous Traveler?

You’re about to make that sort of deep and restorative sleep a reality by designing the perfect sleeping environment. You spend a third of your life asleep, so the place where you spend that much time should be a haven of tranquil rest.

Design the Perfect Sleep Environment

You might think your bedroom is quiet and dark but it’s actually under constant attack from light and noise pollution from many sources. Your phone glows, a digital clock flashes on your bedside table, a small red light shines from a multi-plug, and thin curtains allow streetlights outside to pierce the darkness.

Not to mention all the noises that you can’t prevent, like car alarms, dogs barking or babies crying. But you can silence many of the sounds from within your home and attempt to create a silent oasis protected from the noisy world outside. When you build a space for good habits to flourish, you’ll see that your environment determines your behavior.

You’re going to create the perfect setting for your new sleep habits to take hold. Think cool, dark, and quiet. Your goal is to create a bedroom that will condition you to fall asleep consistently and quickly.

This Week’s Plan

Your Goal

For the next three nights, just before sleeping, make your bedroom as dark, quiet, and cool as possible.

Turn off all light producers—cover any bright displays you can’t shut off. Look around and see if there are any other lights on.

Turn off all noise producers—silence a ticking clock, power down devices and consider investing in a sound conditioning machine. They produce white noise to drown out background chatter, noisy neighbors, or a snoring partner.

Then make your bedroom cooler by:

• Opening a window or using a fan
• Selecting lightweight bedding and changing over to lighter covers as the weather dictates
• Choosing natural cotton sleepwear or going nude

You deserve a dark, quiet and comfortable place to rest. Commit to engineering the perfect environment for sleep tonight.

Your one-time action

To make your bedroom darker, quieter and cooler you may have removed items like devices, sources of light pollution, or ineffective curtains, now it's time to add something special to transform your bedroom into an inviting cocoon of rest. Choose to add sleep-inducing elements into your space, like:

• New bedding or pajamas
• Candles or low lighting thirty minutes before bed
• Relaxing music
• A yoga mat to stretch before sleep
• A new bath product

What We Are Doing

You are the architect of your environment. With a few simple changes and an eye trained to search out sleep disturbances, you’re creating a space perfectly attuned to restful sleep.

Next week you’ll learn how to build the perfect bedtime routine to usher you gently into peaceful slumber.

Fabulous Traveler, you are creating a haven of sleep, enjoy it!