How to improve your sleep with minimalism
Have you struggled more with insomnia since working from home? Find out how to improve your sleep with minimalism.
When working from home became mostly mandatory, so many people turned to minimalism as a means to destress. At its core, minimalism is about getting rid of all the things that may clutter your life. It is about maximizing the things that you do have rather than looking for ways to fill your life with more stuff that you might not need.
Although minimalism focuses on physical stuff, it is easy to draw a line from physical clutter to mental clutter. It is much easier to be productive and energetic when you’re not constantly worrying about what to buy next. Alternatively, this constant chase for what’s next can present in so many areas of your life. It is not wrong to want to see what’s next in your career or crave new adventures, but continually obsessing can lead to a vicious cycle of discontent.
Research has found that people who have minimalist lifestyles are happier, more stress-free and even sleep better. So if you are having trouble sleeping, have you tried decluttering?
Get rid of non-essential items and decorations from your bedroom
Resist the urge to keep unnecessary items in your bedroom. Extra lights, throw pillows, blankets, and furniture might look great but when they don’t serve any real purpose, they just take up space.
Take conscious inventory of the items in your bedroom, watch out for things you never reach for, and remove them. You also have to be careful when buying things to add. It is about striking a balance between functional and decorative items. And decorative items can do both. Glow lamps are decorative but are also great for people who cannot fall asleep in the dark.
Invest in simple, quality furniture
A fantastic advantage of buying less is that you can focus on buying quality furniture. Instead of buying many cheap items, you can buy a few that have better value for your money. Quality pillows and mattresses are the way to go. Take the time to select the right mattress for your needs and budget. A high quality mattress will last longer and serve you better.
Do this for the rest of your bedroom furniture as well. Avoid pieces that would have to be replaced frequently. And if you shop online, resist the urge to buy anything because it’s pretty and cheap. It could just end up adding to the clutter that you are trying to avoid.
Don’t bring work to bed with you
This is something that so many of us are guilty of. While working from home, work-life balance is out the window most of the time. You’d find yourself checking emails in your kitchen or while in bed. The work laptop, notepads or tablets don’t only contribute to physical clutter, but mental clutter. You cannot sleep well if your work follows you everywhere.
What to do? Separate the time for work and sleep and don’t bring work to bed with you. Keep work-related items out of your bedroom. If you have a work desk in your bedroom, that is where it should remain.
Get quality storage and use it
A great way to take care of clutter is to hide it. While looking for minimalist storage hacks, it may be easy to get stuck on a perfect storage aesthetic. You don’t need to go all out on the perfect wicker baskets, fancy drawer dividers, or whatever fad is trendy. Storage should be practical and there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Think about the things you need to store and figure out the best and maybe cheapest way to do that.
Another important thing to consider is whether or not you really need the things that you are trying so desperately to store. It is easy to be stuck on the elusive “someday” that never comes around. While you are looking for creative ways to store stuff, look out for things that you should give away or throw out as well.
Finally, put things away before going to bed so you don’t have to fall asleep with all the mementos of your day crowding your bed and your space. We all have that chair in our bedroom that we bury under layers of clothes and other stuff. Clear the clutter and put things away as soon as possible so they don’t pile up. It might help to remove the chair from your bedroom. It might be enabling bad habits and it’s not like you’re sitting on it.
Living simply can help improve your sleep quality
Adopting a minimalist lifestyle is not about throwing all your worldly possessions away. It is about living simply and contentedly so try not to overhaul your life in one go. Start by doing little things like clearing the environment that you sleep off distractions and see how that improves your sleep quality.
