The Ultimate Valentine’s Gift: Better Sleep for Couples

Originating as a nudist frenzy of bloody animal hives and excited Romans, Valentine’s Day is currently topping off the worldwide holiday charts. The celebration of love, affection, and pair-bonding rightfully deserves its popularity. But what is love if our bedroom is a place of restlessness and poor sleep? The fundamentals of every healthy relationship start in the bed – better sleep for couples means a better bonding experience.

As highly social animals we seek the validation and presence of other people, especially the ones we love. The natural progression of every long-term relationship leads to the sharing of a home and a bed. We spend one-third of our daily cycle sleeping next to or in the arms of our partner. Pair-bonding of such magnitude often calls for compromises and self-sacrifices. But if there is one thing you shouldn’t back off from, then that would certainly be sleep.

The health of the relationship is often correlated with the health of both partners. Lack of sleep is notoriously taxing to one’s health and its effects could be a nightmare for every couple. From lowering empathy levels to wreaking havoc on the endocrine system, sleep deprivation can quickly erode the foundations of an otherwise prospering relationship – be it by increasing the instances of fruitless disputes or losing all desire for physical intimacy.

This is why implementing a well-strategized plan on how to improve the sleep of both you and your partner just might be the perfect Valentine gift. The following short guide is a great starting point in the pursuit of better sleep for couples.

Putting Sleep Back into the Bedroom

Let’s start with the fundamentals in pursuit of better sleep for couples. The first and most logical step is to decide what you want to do in the bedroom. As a couple, you would greatly benefit by giving a clear definition of the word “bed.” After a quick game of semantics, you would most probably associate “bed” with sleep, comfort, physical and emotional intimacy.  However, if you deviated into the world of media entertainment, working, or snacking you might be in trouble.

Beds are the new sofas. Due to technological and cultural shifts, the kitchen and the living room have migrated into the bedroom. “Multifunctionality” can be both a charming buzzword or a recipe for disaster – using your bed as a sleeping burrow, a love nest, and a work office could be more than detrimental to the sleep health of you and your partner. Introducing minimalistic etiquette for your bedroom habits should lay at the backbone of your plan for better couple compatibility.

As comforting or enjoyable as is, working or watching a movie from your bed will trick your mind into disassociating the bedroom with sleep and rest. Once your brain has been trained into believing that your bed is a place for intellectual and emotional stimulus, don’t be surprised when the night culminates with a surge of restless thoughts and ideas. Throwing out all intellectually taxing habits and incorporating sleep-inducing activities will be the meat and potatoes of your journey. Reading light books, cuddling, or having sex are great tools for resetting the bedroom stage and reaping the benefits of healthy association and disassociation.

Once you are ready to take action and adopt better behavioral hygiene, you would want to look around the room and see which objects might sabotage your goals and which might supplement your efforts. As much as the mind-bedroom connection can be pushed forward by the sheer power of healthy habits, the process would be impossible if you don’t introduce changes to the environment.

Better Sleep for Couples and the Perfect Love Nest

Getting rid of all blue light-emitting devices, such as TVs or computers, is a great first step in seeking better sleep for couples. Synchronizing the circadian rhythm with that of your partner would be an accomplishable task if there is no artificial light disturbance in the bedroom. Not only are you taking control over the brightness in the room, but you stop yourself and your partner from indulging in media entertainment or quick email “check-ups.”

For the devices that absolutely need to stay in the bedroom, simply do the following – turn your clocks and phones away and don’t bother looking at them. Counting down how much sleeping time you are left with is a great way to wake up your partner when you inevitably turn into a ball of restlessness.

Temperature control is as important as light hygiene. Darkness and cold is the perfect duo for any couple seeking to up their sleeping game. Aim for a temperature between 60 and 67° F to fully soothe the organism and cool off the brain. In other words, try to reach a middle ground that is as close as to that temperature.

The last sense you want to take care of is the smell. As a foundational base, you want cold fresh air – open the windows a few minutes before going to bed or simply introduce some of the wide arrays of houseplants that can help with the purification of the air. Adding a pleasant scent will multiply the benefits of pure air by supplementing the better quality of sleep with smell-induced positive dreams. Waking up to your partner after a post-dream high will only deepen your bond. A few pots of lavender will satisfy your need for a light fragrance.

In Bed Strategy

Now that your behavior and environment are optimized, it’s time to look after the bed itself. In terms of better sleep for couples and health promotion, wool is your safest bet.

The best way to approach a bed for two is to make it into a non-conflict zone. Reducing the motion transfer caused by the movement of your partner will significantly lower the chance of you being woken up at night. The dense structure and tufting design of Home of Wool’s mattresses will absorb any quakes of restlessness and support your sleep with a nice calming base.

Since our bodies operate at different metabolic rates it is normal for people to have different body temperature levels. If your partner feels like a furnace or you often get witty remarks about your cold-bloodedness, there is a high chance that the temperature under your blanket is off for both of you. Introducing a wool duvet, with its natural ability to regulate cold and heat, is a great way to reach a balanced temperature level. However, if you are tired of playing tug of war for the blanket, you might want to buy separate duvets and have more freedom to move and express your sleep.

The benefits of wool extend even to the sense of smell. By repelling the constant influx of bacteria and regulating the moisture levels, wool is more than effective in diminishing body odors. Having wool bedding will keep your love nest fresh and clean, all the while providing a durable base with hypoallergenic properties. Most importantly, you will be sharing a safe environment free of toxins that erode your health. Sleeping in conventional mattresses, soaked with endocrine-disrupting chemicals, is a recipe for hormonal and respectively relationship problems.

The pursuit of better sleep for couples is a teamwork challenge. By taking control of your behavior and environment in the bedroom you can advance the health of your sleep to the next level. Having deep and refreshing rest is crucial to the longevity and quality of any relationship. Investing in your sleep by engineering your bedroom into a wool temple of affection, intimacy, and comfort will give back tenfold more value to your love bond. If you are interested in more tips on how to improve the quality of your sleep as a couple, feel free to adopt these bedtime rituals and use them as a tool to synchronize your circadian rhythm.

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