On average, a person spends a third of their lifetime sleeping. This means that the bedroom is, most likely, the room you spend the majority of your time in when at home. Therefore, its décor matters a great deal, despite the fact that you don’t actually see it while sleeping.
As insomnia grows more common due to the extreme stress and fast pace of modern life, the bedroom design takes an even more important role. If you are prone to sleep issues, you should use different interior design tricks that can help you relax and fall asleep. The basic rule is to set up the bedroom in calming colors. But that’s definitely not enough to make the room truly relaxing. Adding the right kind of wall art, on the other hand, might be exactly what you need as some images have a great power over the mind.
5 Types of Bedroom Wall Art That Will Help You Relax
Green spaces
According to research, regular visits to green spaces help lower your blood pressure and stress levels, as well as boost your wellness. However, as few people get a chance to walk in a forest, or at least a park daily, Silent Forest canvas wall art can be the best possible alternative. The picture of relaxing green space and an aroma lamp that fills your bedroom with a pleasant smell of pine, can create the illusion that will help your mind relax and drift to sleep content.
The images of forests are so effective in boosting wellness overall that many Japanese businesses install them in offices. Considering that Japan is a country where people literally dying from overworking is a common phenomenon (BBC News), this nation understands the value of stress-relief techniques.
Seascapes
Listening to the sound of waves and watching flowing water are some of the most relaxing activities that exist. Hanging a seascape wall art in your bedroom can help you achieve some of that relaxing effect.
It’s believed that seascapes are particularly effective in making a busy mind slow down and take a breath. It’s associated with the neurological calming effect triggered by the sound of waves (PLOS One). This natural rhythm influences human stress response and literally makes your brain relax.
Patterns
Be they patterns in nature (close-ups of plants) or architecture, reoccurring patterns (fractals) have a soothing effect on the mind. It’s the symmetry that does the trick, as it appeals to the part of the human mind that tries to bring some order to the surrounding chaos of life.
If you are a fan of nature pictures, fractals occur in pine cones, snowflakes, shells, and similar items. As to man-made fractals, look into the images of architecture. Structure with domes, in particular, are the best for relaxing your brain.
Cute pictures of baby animals
It turns out that looking at pictures of cute kittens really does help you relax. However, it also helps you focus and thus can boost your productivity. Therefore, you should consider staring on cute pictures of puppies, bunnies, and kitties, not only before bed but also when you need to ‘reset’ your brain at work.
Researchers believe that this effect occurs due to the fact that cute images of baby animals (and babies as well) trigger the parenting instinct.
Curved lines
Images of sculptures or abstract wall art that include curved lines help you relax. Some researchers studied brain activity of people looking at images of art pieces with curved lines as opposed to those with sharp angles. The results of this small study showed that images with angular shapes induce a spike of brain activity and trigger a stress response.
Curved lines, on the other hand, help your mind stay calm and relaxed. Thus, they will be perfect for the bedroom, where you need to maintain a soothing atmosphere.