Have you ever tried to take a mid-day nap but found the sunshine streaming through the window too bothersome? While some people can nap anywhere, most individuals require a dark room to get good sleep. Without a dark space, your body resists sleep, leading to a long list of adverse effects. Fortunately, there is an easy solution: blackout blinds. Today, we will walk you through the benefits of room darkening for your sleep and how you pick out and install blackout window treatments.
How Blackout Window Treatments Promote Better Sleep
Have you heard of the circadian rhythm? While we won’t dive deep into the science of how it works, to put it simply, it is your body’s internal clock and it is most influenced by light. Essentially, when it is light out, it tells your body to be awake and active, and when it gets dark, it signals your body to go to sleep.
While this worked well in ancient times, modern society is plagued by excessive light pollution. Light of any kind, inside and outside the home, can affect our sleep. Just think about the street lamps, passing car headlights, or even decorative lights shining through your window. On top of that, we have TVs, tablets, laptops, smartphones, digital clocks, lit-décor, and so much more inside our homes, disrupting our sleep as well.
When our circadian rhythm is disrupted by light pollution, it puts a strain on our ability to sleep well. This, in turn, can lead to a host of medical issues including, but not limited to, diabetes, heart disease, obesity, metabolic syndrome, insomnia, depression, anxiety, and so much more.
Fortunately, there is a solution – blackout window treatments. Placing blackout blinds or curtains over your windows allows you to block any external light from disrupting your sleep, giving you that cozy dark room your body desires. While this won’t force you to put your phone away or turn your TV off, it is one giant step in the right direction to improving your sleep.
Bonus Benefit – Reduced Energy Consumption
On top of getting better sleep, blackout window treatments are great for the functionality of your home. Given that they are typically well-insulated, they increase your home’s energy consumption by helping to regulate temperature, such as preventing heat loss when it’s cold and solar heat gain when it’s hot.
Energy.gov reports that 30% of a home’s heating energy is lost through the windows, but proper window treatments can prevent this. Overall, this provides you with more significant energy savings, aiding environmental stewardship and your wallet!
How to Choose the Right Treatments for Your Needs
The first step to improving your sleep is picking out your blackout window treatments. It is an easy three-step process!
Step 1: Understand the Difference
There is a common misunderstanding between room-darkening and blackout treatments; they are different. As the name implies, room-darkening treatments reduce the amount of light in a room, whereas blackout treatments eliminate all light to create a pitch-black space. While room darkening treatments are lovely for certain areas of the home, they will not provide you with that lightless requirement you need for good sleep.
Step 2: Determine Where You Need Blackout Treatments
You can have room-darkening treatments in most places around the house, but that can’t be said for blackout treatments. Blacking out all the light in a kitchen isn’t necessary and may actually become a hazard if you try to get a midnight snack.
We primarily recommend using blackout window treatments in bedrooms, such as the primary, guest, and children’s, to promote good sleep. In addition, they can be used in theater rooms or hobby rooms for people like photographers. While we don’t recommend using blackout curtains in offices, for the sake of mental health, they may be needed if you have sensitive equipment.
Step 3: Choose a Style
While blackout window treatments are often thought of as dark fabric hanging from a curtain, they come in various types and styles. We recommend looking through the following options and considering the style that best suits your interior design.
Blackout Window Treatments Options
As a homeowner, you have a catalog of window treatment options. Blackout shades are a popular option. For example, Graber Blinds has a stunning collection of blackout roller shades, cellular shades, Roman shades, and more.
For bedrooms, a favorite option is drapes. These long curtains are hung on a rod above the window, allowing the treatment to be pulled past the edges of the window on either side to prevent any light from peeking through. Hunter Douglas has a wide array of custom drapes, with over 4,000 fabrics and color choices.
When discussing options, it isn’t just about type but function. Some blackout blinds come with control options, such as cordless and automated. Cordless treatments are an excellent safety option if your home has children or pets. On the other hand, automated treatments are a fantastic way to integrate technology into your home to improve energy efficiency and manual labor. Of course, our top recommendation would be automated cordless treatments!
Tips on How to Install Blackout Blinds and Treatments
To ensure that your blackout blinds are installed correctly, the first step is a proper measurement. Depending on the type of treatment you are getting, you will likely need to measure the window’s height, width, and depth.
Unfortunately, making a measurement mistake is easy to do and highly common for DIY installers, so we highly recommend triple-checking all of your measurements and using high-quality tools to do so.
For complete instructions, check out our blog on How Do I Measure the Size of My Windows to Install Blinds?
Of course, hiring a professional is the best option to ensure the utmost accuracy and precision in the installation of your blackout window treatments.
Book a Free Consultation with the Blind Guys of the Tri-Cities
Are you ready for a solid night’s sleep uninterrupted by early morning sunshine or bright street lights? We are here to help you achieve that goal! You can enhance your sleep tonight by exploring our range of room darkening and blackout solutions.
For more information, please contact Blind Guy of Tri-Cities today to arrange a complimentary consultation and discover how our customized options can transform your bedroom into a peaceful haven.
