Creating the best bedroom, where you can't wait to go to sleep, in moving season

Moving into your first solo apartment, relocating for work, or even becoming a digital nomad or moving to the countryside – these new beginnings are often filled with excitement. Here, we've compiled tips for creating the perfect bedroom, where you'll spend a third of your life sleeping.

Moving is the Perfect Opportunity to "Change Your Sleep"

At one point, the term "moving refugees" was widely discussed in various media. The cause was the inability to secure a moving company during the peak moving season. This is actually unique to Japan; overseas, there is no peak season for moving, and fewer people use moving companies, so this "moving refugee" phenomenon doesn't occur. Even in movies, you often see family and friends helping out with moves.

How many times have you moved so far? Statistics show that Japanese people generally move about 3 to 5 times in their lives. Occasionally, you hear about people who love moving, and for them, enjoying a carefree rental life that allows for easy relocation is one lifestyle choice.

While the tasks, procedures, and heavy lifting involved in moving are certainly not easy, the prospect of a new life and lifestyle is full of excitement. From your old life to a new place, arranging furniture and small items, and building new relationships with neighbors – in a sense, it's about reinventing yourself. Especially when it comes to improving the quality of your daily life through sleep, and setting up a new sleep environment, moving is the perfect timing.

Color:

The largest spaces in a room are the walls and windows. The color scheme of your wallpaper and curtains can actually significantly impact the quality of your sleep, leading to shallower sleep or changes in perceived temperature. Colors can generally be divided into warm colors that evoke warmth and cool colors that evoke coolness. It's also helpful to know the power of colors. Generally recommended colors are "blue, green, and brown" — known as earth tones. These are said to be colors found in nature that evoke a sense of calm in the subconscious mind. By the way, colors to avoid are "red, yellow, and orange" as these are stimulating tones that are not recommended for peaceful sleep. Even for those renting who can't change the wallpaper, there are now many types of wallpaper available that can be easily restored to their original condition. Search for "peel and stick wallpaper"!

Scent:

Humans have long used aromatherapy as a way to suppress stress. The scent of essential oils not only affects the sense of smell and sensory perception but is also believed to act on the autonomic nervous system, endocrine system, immune system, and more, playing a role in regulating biological functions. This understanding gained widespread recognition with the "discovery of olfactory receptor genes and elucidation of the molecular mechanisms of olfactory sensation" in olfactory research conducted by Columbia University and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, which clarified the workings of the olfactory system and earned a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Representative "scents" that aid sleep include "lavender, cedarwood, and bergamot." Lavender helps alleviate tension and stress and calm the mind, cedarwood brings a forest bathing effect, and bergamot is known as a natural antidepressant.

Sound:

The state of mind and body just before sleep is one of the factors deeply related to sleep. It goes without saying that sound affects the brain, given that neuroscientists at Northwestern University have published papers showing that music education improves cognitive functions and enhances general functions such as memory, coordination, and attention. While various types of music are introduced as being conducive to sleep, the characteristics of "sound" that are said to make it easier to fall asleep when alpha waves are emitted from the brain in a relaxed state are "no lyrics and no ups and downs (beats)." Classical music such as Mozart is recommended.

Bedroom Feng Shui:

•  If you want to sleep soundly every night and boost your luck, you might want to try feng shui. A way to generate new energy is to ventilate your room in the morning to circulate the air. And by making your bed as soon as you wake up, you'll feel like you're getting into a hotel bed every night, starting each new sleep afresh. Why not make it a small morning habit?
• According to feng shui, positioning your bed with your head pointing north is good for health and wealth. If you sleep with your pillow pointing east, towards the rising sun, you will be able to fully receive the energy of the sun, which is auspicious. Also, open your bedroom door, avoid placing your head in line with the door, and if there are protruding beams on the wall side, avoid sleeping directly underneath them to calm disturbed energy. If you have trouble falling asleep or wake up multiple times during the night, try re-evaluating your bed's position. Furthermore, it's preferable for the bed frame to be wooden.
• For women, checking their makeup and day's wardrobe is very important. "If you choose a mirror, an octagonal one facing south will make you look beautiful, and facing west will make you look cute" is also something you might want to incorporate.

Even if a new, empty space in your new home feels very large, once you start moving things in, the space will feel increasingly smaller. By deciding on colors and fabric textures for the larger surfaces first, it becomes easier to decide whether small items will be accent colors or contribute to a unified look.

"Sleeping" means allowing all senses to rest (though some senses still function even in sleep), allowing information from the day to be organized by the secretion of growth hormones, and skillfully cycling through REM and non-REM sleep, until you wake up with the morning sun. This is the best way to greet a refreshing morning. Bedroom furniture, once installed and arranged, is not easily moved. For every pleasant morning. For every day when you can't wait to go home and get into bed even while at work, make good use of the opportunity to move.