Clocks Going Forward - How To Make Your Bedroom Darker

With the clocks going forward and summer approaching, the lighter evenings can make it difficult for children to go to sleep. As the mornings get brighter earlier, you may find cracks of light seeping through your curtains and blinds. If you have more light in your bedroom, you’ll inevitably get less sleep. The reason for this is that light sends signals to your brain telling the melatonin faucet to turn off when it hits your eye’s. Light is one of the most important factors when it comes to regulating our “internal body clock” or more technically, our circadian rhythm, which controls our sleep/wake cycle.

Closing blinds and curtains in the early evening will also help block out some of the light in your lounge and bedrooms. This will help start the melatonin production and prepare your body for sleep. Where possible, use lamps or dim lights to keep light levels low and create a relaxing atmosphere.

Ensuring your bedroom is pitch black isn’t as easy as it sounds. We have curated some design idea’s and tips that you can build into your bedroom to ensure our little people go to sleep better and we can lie in longer in summer.

Blackout Blinds

Blackout Roller Blinds are a must in my opinion in any bedroom. If you have quite a slim frame you may get some light around the edges if you select inside recess. Most people prefer inside recess for a neater look and you could always double up with some curtains. If you think this will bother you then ordering a roller or roman blind that hangs outside the recess and gives you the chance to oversize and completely cover the window allowing less light leakage.

Blackout Vertical Blinds obviously will allow light through the slats, but they are better than standard fabrics for bedrooms.

Thick blackout blinds and curtains will not only help keep your home warm in winter saving you money, you can also close them in the daytime to help keep you home cool in summer. Visit the “British Blinds & Shutter Association” Blinds Make Better for more info on this.

Blackout Curtains

If you do choose inside recess as mentioned above you can double up with some blackout curtains. Combining light weight blinds with blackout curtains is a popular way to combine styles. This gives you complete darkness at night, but light and privacy in the day.

Another trick is to overlap curtain tracks by installing the curtain on each side of the window on different tracks. That way, you can overlap them slightly where they meet in the middle. This works like a theater curtain and eliminates the gap in the middle.

Fully Cassetted Roller Blinds

A true room darkening blind usually consists of a roller blind using a blackout fabric with a head box to cover the fabric roll and side and bottom channels to prevent light from entering around the edges.

The sleek design with minimum window obtrusion means the roller blockout system is the perfect choice for rooms in which light control is essential.

Light blocking Strips

Of course, when there’s a problem some clever person comes up with a budget solution. This is a cheap and easy way to eliminate those gaps, light locking strips, although it doesn’t look the best, it dose the job.

Temporary Window Blind Blackouts For Travelling

Temporary blackout window blinds are a very cheap solution when traveling or in temporary accommodation and don’t want to spend a lot of money. They are blackout paper blinds that can be cut down to size and you clip them up when you are not using them. These are also perfect for when you are decorating or waiting for your blinds to be delivered or fitted.

Block The Light From Under Your Door

Windows aren’t the only source of light sneaking into your room. You may get light coming in from under the door from landing widows, other people in other rooms or you might be leaving the bathroom light on for your little ones. You may want to consider a door draft excluder or door snake as we used to call them.

Turn Off Electronics

Natural light isn’t the only light source that can effect your sleep cycle. Even if you phone is on silent, notifications may pop up on your phone throughout the night omitting unexpected light. TV’s on standby or even your digital clock next to your bed. Switch TV’s off by the wall and turn clocks around.