You may be familiar with BIO-HACKING or all the LIFE-HACKS from social media? SPACE-HACKING is the science-based approach to designing spaces that sustainably improve your quality of life – whether at home or at work.
For a longer and healthier life.
SPACE-HACK NO 1
WANT TO SLEEP BETTER?
When was the last time you woke up refreshed and ready for the day?
Sleep is the basis for your body’s recovery and for regulating our circadian rhythm! During the REM (Rapid Eye Movement) phase of our sleep, we process the day’s experiences and our deepest fears in dreams – we wash our brains, so to speak.
A good night’s sleep improves our quality of life and helps us stay healthy for longer. Where others invest a lot of money in longevity concepts, deep sleep would be free and easy to achieve. A lack of sleep can lead to us experiencing fewer positive feelings, have a negative impact on our immune system and drastically reduce our vital energy.
My space hacks enable you to improve your health in just a few steps and thus increase your quality of life.
NO WILD PATTERNS!
We perceive 80% of our surroundings with our eyes (I will come to the 20% in further hacks). In concrete terms, this means that the bedroom also has an effect on us when we go to bed. Colours in the bedroom should be calm and harmonious – I love dark colours in bedrooms! Reduce wild patterns (sorry to all duvet cover manufacturers with funny patterns) and use calm colours. Ask yourself what you see when you wake up. The first thing you see in the morning should inspire you for the day – a beautiful picture, a console with things that bring you joy or even a positively supportive wallpaper. The room should feel cosy and protective – it should invite you to relax and calm your mind.
TIP
The bed should be at the centre – because that’s where we want to be! Complementary seating is always handy, even just for putting clothes down. Most of us sleep barefoot; make sure your feet touch something cosy in the morning like a snug rug; your journey to and from bed should be sensual to your feet and the end of a fulfilling day or the start of an inspiring morning.
MAKE IT DARK!
Our bodies are programmed to associate darkness with sleep and lightness with wakefulness.
Sudden light in the dark can upset our hormone balance and prevent us from falling asleep again.
Nightlights with indirect light can help you to avoid falling asleep when you go to the toilet at night.
Disturbing light sources at night can be incident street light, fire alarm diodes, electronic alarm clocks or chargers. Receivers of devices also usually have this little light that follows you to sleep.
Wherever light can penetrate, there is a potential interference zone: external blinds do not seal properly, curtains do not close the side angles of incidence, the light from the corridor comes through under the door…
TIP
If you use blackout curtains to try to reduce daylight, differentiate between black-out (100% of the light is blocked) and dimm-out (up to 90% of the light is blocked) and install side blinds if the curtains do not close at the sides. If you install nightlights, then not only for the way to the toilet, but also in the toilet – otherwise you will be wide awake back in bed. Disturbing diodes on electrical components can be covered with small stickers – many hotels now also offer this in their rooms.
REDUCE!
A study has found that people with an untidy home have a higher level of cortisol (stress hormone) in their blood; Marie Kondo, the Japanese tidy-up godmother, has also taken advantage of this. If the home was tidy, the people tested were able to switch off better and therefore fall asleep better!
Clutter and disorganisation disturb our mind, as our brain tends to perceive things unconsciously and deal with them intuitively and associatively ( Neuroscience, cognitive system 1 ). Reduce clutter and tidy up what doesn’t belong in the bedroom. Also avoid objects and pictures with strong emotional content or super intense colours. The bedroom should radiate peace and security.
TIP
I think an unmade bed is terrible, but I often don’t have time to take care of it in the morning – do you feel the same way? A light throw works wonders because it covers up the biggest mess and is quickly pulled over. Add one or two throw pillows and the room looks inviting for the next night.
Clothes that have been put away belong back in the wardrobe to air out or in the dirty laundry; the integrated armchairs or shelves provide structure and not clutter!
MY SECRET TIPS:
Have you ever heard of pillow sprays?
Pillow sprays were developed to cover the pillow with ethereal fragrances to make it easier to fall asleep. Fragrances arouse emotions and have a direct effect on our limbic system (the area of the brain responsible for our feelings and moods), but they also have an effect on the hippocampus, the seat of our memory and thus our recollections. So if you apply some scented oil to your pillow every evening before going to bed, your body will remember over time that it’s bedtime and you will be able to wind down more quickly.
The room and bed temperature is a decisive factor in giving your body the relaxation it needs during the night. A normal waking temperature in the room is around 20°, the sleeping temperature should be around 18° (not taking into account regional and individual preferences). You can either turn down the heating or use cooling bedding materials; the easiest way is with cooling nightwear: try the nightgowns and pyjamas from the Swiss label ‘Dagsmejan’ – with their special high-tech fibres, they ensure good perspiration and cool at the same time – sustainable, ethical and 100% made in Europe.
Nicole’s blog appears sporadically and brings you useful tips for your personal feel-good world, the latest products and interesting facts as well as scientific information from the day-to-day work of an interior designer.
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Nicole Gottschall
Head of Design GO INTERIORS
Interior architect VSI.ASAI / Owner
Copyright NICOLE GOTTSCHALL
Published June 24 / GO INTERIORS GmbH
www.go-interiors.ch
