The global pandemic had all sorts of terrible consequences, many of which we are still facing and trying to deal with. However, one positive of the international health crisis is that it made most of us pay a lot more attention to health and wellbeing in general and consider ways to keep our homes and other areas healthier through specific strategies.
With the bedroom where we spend a big chunk of our lives, sleeping and resting, this part of your property is a prime spot to focus on your health in 2022.
A Good Bed Setup
One of the most crucial factors in a bedroom is the bed you sleep on, so to optimize health, you need to ensure you have the right setup in this area. You can make improvements by making choices based on the bed frame, mattress, and bed linen you use. For example, if you have an old and cheaply-made bed frame, it was likely produced using chemical-laden materials. You might want to update this product to something newer that’s produced more sustainably, such as a wooden bed frame handmade locally and utilizing fewer chemicals and other toxins as a result.
You can also make a healthier choice by updating an old mattress that may be laden with mold, mildew, and allergens to something new yet eco-friendly. For example, shop for organic mattresses made from greener, healthier materials like organic cotton. You also want to update your pillow, as these sleeping aids tend to be a hotbed of dust mites and dirt. Search for pillows made from natural fabrics and then replace this item every year or two for best results.
Plenty of Regular Cleaning
Another way to make your bedroom healthier is to clean it regularly. Many of us are good at keeping our kitchens, bathrooms, and other common areas neat and tidy every week because these are the spaces seen by other people and used the most daily, yet our bedrooms get neglected. Take the time to thoroughly clean your sleeping quarters every week or two if you want a healthier space to sleep in.
Vacuum your bed, wash your sheets and other bed linen, wipe down surfaces, and dust curtains, blinds, closet doors, shelves, and the like. Vacuum under your bed (robot vacuums are great for this job) and clean the back or top of wardrobes and closets. Shake out and then vacuum area rugs and clean floors, too, whether they’re carpeted or feature wooden boards, vinyl, or some other surface.
You can also make healthier choices with the cleaning solutions you use. Bring fewer chemicals into your bedroom by using natural products, either store-bought or homemade. In addition, get into the routine of leaving shoes at your front door instead of wearing them around your home and tracking debris into all your spaces. Furthermore, keep pets out of your bedroom so less hair, dirt, and the like ends up in your sleeping zone.
The Removal of Any Lead-Based Paint
You’ll never have a healthy bedroom if it contains dangerous substances like lead. As such, it’s worth investigating if any lead-based paint on the walls, ceiling, or elsewhere needs removal and replacing. Lead can lead to severe health issues like seizures, brain damage, and even death. Unfortunately, though, paints for years had lead used as an ingredient because the ramifications of the product weren’t known.
Lead paint got banned in the late seventies, yet many properties still contain at least some traces of it. This means that if you’re in a place that’s older and hasn’t been gutted and renovated since 1978, you may have something to worry about. You can pay for a swab test to find out for sure. Get this job done ASAP if you can see paint in your room that’s chipping, cracking, or peeling, as this is when you’re most likely to be exposed to lead.
Strip paint away and repaint with non-toxic solutions that don’t just avoid lead but also say no to the use of toxic volatile organic compounds (VOCs). This is a group of chemicals used in many products still but considered by many to be highly unhealthy for the body.
Three other components of a healthy bedroom that you should keep in mind are decent airflow, a suitable temperature for sleeping, and a lack of clutter. Too much “stuff” in your room will distract you when you’re trying to relax and make it harder for you to switch your brain off and rest. This, in turn, impacts mental health, stress, anxiety levels, and more.
Keep all of these factors in mind as you redesign your primary bedroom and other sleeping quarters over the coming months and years. Doing so will help you create healthier spaces to spend time in and get you feeling better, inside and out.
