“If you make your bed, you will have accomplished the first task of the day. That was the golden nugget of advice that Admiral McRaven gave during a commencement address: “make your bed.” You can watch the short clip here.
It seems innocuous, but the truth is that making your bed automatically gives you a “win” at the very beginning of your day. This win greatly impacts your motivation to keep going and, therefore, your actions. What if this “win” is biologically primed to support your health and vitality? Making your bed could be a crucial daily routine that sets up a biologically supportive sleep sanctuary for you to have quality deep sleep.
As McRaven puts it, “if you want to change the world, start off by making your bed.”
So, is there a biologically optimal way to make a bed? What can we learn from the health issues plaguing modern life about how to approach designing for this important chunk of everyday life? Here are some notes on the ideal biological sleeping arrangements—from sleep hygiene to non-toxic materials.
Making your bed helps deep sleep
If you make your bed with your health in mind, you are creating a clean, tox-free sleeping environment. You are making a space that you can rest and relax easily in. Good sleep helps maintain a healthy circadian rhythm — this is is vital because many bodily and hormonal functions operate based on your circadian rhythm, including such important everyday functions such as sleepiness, wakefulness, and hunger.
If you can make your bed every day, you would be creating a bed sanctuary for proper daily deep sleep that necessary for health.
Why you want deep sleep
Deep sleep is the stage of sleep that helps the brain rest and recover, allowing it to replenish energy. keeping hormones balanced. The pituitary gland secretes human growth hormone during this stage, which helps tissues in the body grow and regenerate cells.
The most important thing that a person can do is to set aside more time for sleep. Doing so allows the body to go through more sleep cycles, which makes it possible to have more deep sleep.
But we know getting good sleep is not as simple as just closing your eyes. Setting up your bed and bedroom environment as a sleep sanctuary will help you achieve this.
Here are how sleep strategies can help from the perspective of building biology. And in every single action, these habits can be very powerful. As you sleep in your bed night after night, waking up from the same bed routine day after day.
So let’s look at a few closely…
Choose natural bedding
The options can seem overwhelming when it comes to sheets and pillows. Consider your sheets and pillows and choose what is tox-free and most sleep-enhancing for your needs.
The most tox-free bedding is made with natural fabrics through processes that use less water than traditional practices and don’t require harsh chemicals like pesticides or bleach or inexpensive and dangerous additives like micro plastics.
Useful guidelines include: Global Organic Textile Standard, Standard 100 by OEKO-TEX, Cradle to Cradle, and Fair Trade. These give their individual stamps of approval on products, promising that they meet certain markers in order to be considered ethically sourced, organic, safe, and responsibly labeled.
Depending on your preferences, natural bedding generally boast inherent benefits like moisture wicking and antibacterial properties.
Here is a brief list:
Organic cotton
Organic Hemp & Organic Linen
Two more classic natural bedding fabrics are hemp and linen. They’re both stronger than cotton, with hemp being up to eight times stronger.
Eucalyptus fiber
The feel of eucalyptus is downy, resistant to irritants like dust and mold, and naturally cooling. Eucalyptus plants also combat congestion, repel insects, and promote relaxation.
Organic latex
The properties of organic latex make it naturally mold-, mildew-, bacteria-, and dust-resistant.
Declutter the bedroom
A clean home is a happy home, because it is a healthy.
While a home doesn’t need to be sanitised or spotless, when you tidy the bedroom, it provides a clear slate for restful sleep.
Tidying the bedroom will not only provide you with another small win for the day, it will relieve stress so that your mind can fully focus on what matters most. Learn how building biology principles can be a part of stress management techniques.
Declutter your light environment
Avoiding blue light, such as smartphones or computers near bedtime, is essential to allowing the cascade of hormones necessary for enough deep rest.
At night, keep the room as dark as possible by covering windows and turning off lights from alarm clocks and other electronic devices.
Opening and shutting your windows helps make a consistent sleep schedule and trying to fall asleep and wake up at consistent times.
Declutter your EMF environment
The last thing you want in your bedroom environment are artificial EMFs. Sleep is when your body begins the heavy duty of clearing fluid.
Artificial EMFs interfere with this process, and add oxidative stress, which leads to inflammation and weakens your cells over time[*]. Your body uses up antioxidants combating EMF radiation, leaving your cells open to damage from other sources of stress.
Growing research has found that EMFs may hit your brain especially hard and could even contribute to neurodegeneration.
EMFs can come from WiFi, cell phones, laptops, and other everyday electronic devices. Learn more here, or book a home consult.
Taking the time to make your bed
As society seem to get ever busier and high tech, sleep is seeming a bigger and bigger luxury and all things bedroom is seeing a renaissance of interest as people chase what they perceive to be elusive sleep.
I think we are realising the importance of how intertwined our bed and sleep: it is part of basic hygiene and essential to our self-care.
We spend a third of our lives asleep, or about under half of every day. This means that we are constantly being exposed to any chemicals or microscopic bacteria. It also means we are exposed to any pollution and toxins permeating our sleep environment.
The good news is that you can decrease a lot of your exposure to pollution, and increase your resilience, by a lot with just the simple action of making your bed. Try making your bed daily with these building biology practices.
