Aside from making sure you’re sleeping on a quality, comfortable mattress and using good sleep hygiene, researchers have found a simple thing you can try to get better sleep — open your bedroom door or window.
A small study conducted by researchers at the Eindhoven University of Technology in Eindhoven, Netherlands, found that keeping a window or door open helped ventilate the room and therefore better sleep for the 17 participants. The results were published in the Nov. 22, 2017, issue of Indoor Air.
The researchers measured carbon dioxide levels, temperature, background noise and humidity in the bedrooms. Participants wore sleep trackers to monitor movement during the night and answered questions about sleep quality the next day.
“Participants’ subjective assessment of their sleep depth correlated with carbon dioxide levels,” the researchers report in Indoor Air. “Lower carbon dioxide levels implied better sleep depth, sleep efficiency and lesser number of awakenings.”
