5 Must-Have Sleep Aids In the Bedroom

Thanks to stress, smartphones, and electric lighting, human beings have a hard time falling asleep. Our bodies get mixed up about whether it’s time to produce sleep hormones like melatonin, leaving many of us tossing and turning all night only to feel exhausted the next day. Outfit your bedroom in the right technology to get a better night’s sleep.

A White Noise Machine
White noise machines make gentle fan sounds that drown out ambient noise. If you notice sounds while you’re trying to fall asleep, then you need no additional convincing that a white noise machine is for you. Think you sleep through anything? Even if bumps and rustles in the night don’t fully awaken you, they do interrupt your sleep patterns. You may not be aware that the traffic sounds outside your window are robbing you of rest, but they are.

Blackout Curtains
Trying to sleep when a motion light keeps going on or off or when your window is right next to a street light is very difficult. Blinds have slits that allow light in, and some curtains are too sheer to darken your bedroom much. Get room darkening or blackout curtains. Too much exposure to light at night affects your body’s ability to naturally fall asleep. Make your bedroom dark to send cues to your brain that it’s time to produce melatonin.

A Sleep Monitor

Image via Flickr by hang_in_there

The S+ sleep monitor detects motion, light, and temperature conditions within your bedroom. This sleep monitor will tell you how much you toss and turn each night. If your room has too much ambient light or if the temperature is wrong for sleeping, the monitor notifies you of that, too.

A Humidifier
Do you cough when you go to sleep or wake up feeling parched and thirsty? Low indoor humidity is common in the north during winter, when furnaces dry out the air inside homes. A humidifier will return the right amount of moisture to the air, dampening that cough and in some cases relieving snoring problems, too. Itchy skin will be less bothersome and nose bleeds due to dry nasal passages will happen less frequently, leaving you free to sleep soundly.

A Bed Buddy
The Bed Buddy is a simple concept: it’s a cloth tube filled with rice, with handles on either end. You can put it in the freezer for a few hours or stick it in the microwave for about a minute. Either way, you end up with a warm or cold device you can use on your body. If your feet get cold in the winter, warm your Bed Buddy and put it under your sheets at the bottom of your bed. Too hot in the summer? A chilled Bed Buddy is heavenly under your neck.

Poor sleep quality is a huge stressor, so do something about yours. Isolate the reasons you aren’t sleeping, like ambient noise or too much light in the bedroom. Then go after the gadgets that will tackle the issues and offer you a peaceful sleep environment.