21 Simple Sleep Upgrades for 2021
We’re learning more about sleep every year. With everyone wearing Apple Watches and FitBits, sleep is on our minsd like never before, but getting it can seem harder than ever.
As 2021 reaches a peak, it’s time to take things seriously and attend to your health. Proper sleep can take your ambitions for this year to the next level — learn our top 21 sleep improvement tips for 2021.
1. Buy a new mattress
Let’s start with the obvious. Buying a new mattress is definitely the best way to improve your sleep.
That doesn’t mean the other items on our list aren’t worth your time. On the contrary — they all combine to deliver a fully optimized sleep experience.
Without the basics in place, however, it will all be so many band-aids. If you’ve been putting off buying a new mattress because of the cost, just consider two things:
- How much are you losing by not optimizing your sleep?
- Did you know that new mattresses cost much less than they used to?
If your existing mattress is less than five years old, consider giving it a little longer yet. Mattress technology has improved so much over the last half-decade, though, that you owe it to yourself to upgrade your sleeping arrangement sometime in the near future.
2. Get some new pillows
A new set of pillows can be almost as good as a new mattress — and the two should always come together. It’s even better when your new mattress comes with free pillows to complete your bedroom set.
3. Replace your mattress cover
Mattress covers are more practical than luxurious, but that doesn’t mean your cover has to be uncomfortable. Plus, if you have an old-school elastic cover that leaves the bottom exposed, consider replacing it with a full-zip upgrade.
4. Choose new sheets
New sheets will make you feel more comfortable while you sleep, and they’ll also improve the ambiance of your bedroom. While we’re sure you make your bed every day, there are still some times when your exposed sheets either compliment or clash with the rest of your bedroom decor.
5. Upgrade your bed frame
Bed frames can be beautiful, but a solid bed frame underneath your mattress is a bare necessity to ensure total comfort. Your bed frame helps heat move away from your body while you sleep, keeping you more comfortable and qualitatively upgrading your nightly rest.
6. Add a topper
A topper will make an already-luxurious mattress truly legendary. It might also make a bad mattress better or an old mattress passable.
If you’re buying a new mattress to upgrade your bedroom in 2021, you might want to get a topper with it. Protecting your new mattress with a topper can improve its lifespan in addition to making you feel more comfortable.
7. Practice proper ventilation
In addition to lifting your mattress off the ground with a proper frame, you should also ventilate your bedroom just as properly. If cracking a window slightly isn’t an option, use fans to move air through the room. Placing a clip-on fan on the leg of your bed frame and aiming it under your bed will turbo-boost the ventilation benefits of lifting your mattress.
8. Try sleep supplements
Melatonin might not live up to its reputation in the end, but there are plenty of other natural substances you can ingest that might help with sleep. Magnesium, lavender, and glycine are three examples of safe supplements that could dramatically improve your sleep quality.
9. Track your sleep
Strap some wearable tech on your wrist, and direct it to track your sleep. The latest Apple Watch models have advanced sleep tracking, and FitBit has offered sleep monitoring features for years.
10. Give white noise a try
Living like you’re in an airplane hanger won’t help you sleep better. A little bit of white noise, however, can cover up the sound of shifting bodies and help your mind zone off into neverland. Free white noise apps are available on your mobile device, and you can invest in a white noise machine for the professional experience.
11. Or, earplugs also work
If white noise is too annoying for you or someone you sleep near, you can raise your own sonic island with earplugs. These days, earplugs run the gamut from the super-simple to the almost absurdly high-tech.
12. Hug a body pillow
A body pillow can simulate the feeling of hugging a partner while providing extra support for your joints and limbs. The best body pillows are adjustable to meet the needs of your unique body.
13. Elevate your upper body
Wedge pillows have recently become popular among asthma sufferers and people with other respiratory conditions. By raising your upper body around 15-20%, wedge pillows make respiration easier and also make you feel more comfortable overall.
14. Set up an aromatherapy diffuser
Aromatherapy isn’t airy-fairy anymore — it’s established science. If you aren’t using aromatherapy in your bedroom in one way or another, you’re missing out on one of the biggest sleep discoveries of the decade — or even the century.
15. Or, buy an aromatherapy pillow
Some pillows have aromatherapy built-in. Lavender-infused memory foam, for instance, can be shaped into a pillow, delivering the mild aroma of lavender directly into your nostrils as you sleep.
16. Optimize your bedroom humidity
Everyone is saying that you need a humidifier in your bedroom these days. What if you live in Florida, though? Be sensible with your humidity. The established science is that a humidity range of 30-50% is optimal for human health — anything above or below that, and your sleep will be negatively impacted.
17. Silk pillowcases aren’t too luxurious
No they aren’t — not for you. Even if you don’t want to splurge on silk, 300-thread-count cotton is much more affordable while also being luxuriously soft.
18. Weighted blankets might work
Trending into the world of sleep science again are weighted blankets, which contain small, heavy objects that press down while you sleep. Some people swear by weighted blankets, and they certainly don’t seem to be harmful.
19. Have you heard of sheet suspenders?
If you toss and turn a lot at night, you might have just gotten used to the corners of your fitted sheet coming off. Nobody can really become accustomed to that scratchy foot-on-mattress-cover feeling, though.
“Sheet suspenders” grab onto both sides of your fitted sheet’s corner to keep it from coming off the bed. You might also just need to purchase fitted sheets that are the proper depth for your mattress.
20. Strap on a eye mask
Blackout curtains not making things dark enough for you? Eye masks might be uncomfortable for some people, but others swear by bringing the darkness of night right in front of your eyes instead of trusting curtains.