How to Stay Comfy & Stress-Free During the Pandemic

Times May Be Uncertain, But You Can Still Create a Home Sanctuary

There’s no way around it. This pandemic is up-heaving every part of life for so many and it’s a stressful time. Creating a safe sanctuary in your home can help you to stay comfortable and stress-free while you Stay Inside.

Self-Care During Covid-19

Self-care isn’t selfish, even in a time like this. If you want to keep yourself sane and make staying indoors for the long run more bearable, taking time out for yourself is crucial. Recharging gives you the fuel you need to perform everyday tasks, deal with emergencies, and manage the new responsibilities you might have during this time. 

If you can devote just one day a week to self-care, maybe even just half of the day, you can improve your immune system’s defenses, refresh tired internal stores, and be in a better emotional place to handle the next pandemic update. With the possibility of having more free time now with the Stay Inside mandate, this is the perfect time to work on your own self-care routine.

Burn out is even more of a problem as we all start to tout more emotional and professional weight, potentially even acting as full-time parents right now or taking care of a sick loved one. Don’t burn the candle at both ends and take no time to rest. Make time for this care and allow us to help you create the perfect space at home to do so.

Make Your Space Work for You

Truly relax during this special time. Pull out your favorite fragrant lotions, bath fixens, and scented candles. Make your bedroom and bathroom into a private spa and escape all this chaos for a moment.

Crystal healer and interior designer Rashia Bell once said that, “A bedroom is a place where you allow yourself to recharge and reboot [...] part of your self-care routine in that it’s a space for the rituals [...] you use to inspire and kick off your day, or in the evening to feel gratitude for the things you accomplished. A bedroom is a great place to [...] unabashedly give yourself what you need.”

Bell and her partner Elizabeth Kohn, the founders of The Cristalline, have come up with several ways to make your bedroom into a high-vibe sanctuary that’s all about you.

Bedrooms are sacred spaces. They’re the spot you go to recharge and take a break from the world, particularly now, so make them reflect you as much as possible. If you want to make it look totally different than the rest of your home, now’s the time to do. After all, you need now more than ever a place to feel safe and secure. If you want to stuff it full of knick-knacks that mean the world to you and make you smile, do it.

5 Tips to Turn Your Bedroom Into Your Safe Haven

Organize Visible Surfaces

Looking for your essentials or that smell-good lotion you love is no fun and it can keep you from de-stressing the way you need to. Keep your dresser and vanity surfaces organized to ensure that finding things is streamlined. This way you can get everything you need to relax quickly and easily, ensuring your chill-out routine is that much more productive.

Maintaining a clear main surface will also help if you need to use it for something, like a spot for an essential oil diffuser or candle. And when you group like things together, it tends to be more visually appealing and soothing to the eye.

If you’re looking for more storage for your bedroom, try to find a sturdy dresser or chest that can keep all your extra clothes and even your jewelry safe and sound while out of sight.

Now that your care station is looking good, your extended time indoors can be a great chance to take care of your skin. Exfoliate. Use a face mask. Apply specialty serums. If you’ve always wanted to try a proper shave, now’s the time. Steam your skin, use a premium shaving cream, and be as precise and detailed as you want. You have the time. No rushing.

If you’re feeling particularly extra, go for a full-on makeover. Check out some YouTube videos or online tutorials and create a fun look and a feel-good sense of accomplishment. Messed up? No worries. You have time, just take it off and try again. 

Light It Up

Mood lighting is especially important when you’re trying to create a relaxing space. Keep it bright and airy in the morning when you need energy and tone it down at night when you’re looking to zen out and chill. Lights on dimmers, a handful of smaller lamps, and natural light options are the best. Control your lighting to create different moods at different times whenever you want.

And let’s not forget our good old fave, lighting candles. The soothing light they offer is usually accompanied by a lovely scent, and they are go-to’s for creating a soothing mood. If you’re worried about the flame, you can try the electric candles that mimic the flickering of the original and scent the room through essential oils.

Give Your Feet Some Love

Your feet deserve to feel great too. If you can, now’s the time to treat yourself to a foot massager. You can find some very soothing foot massaging units on the site to help your feet get the good rub-down they need during this stressful time. We also recommend looking at the handheld and personal massage units on the site that can help you to knead out those pesky knots in your shoulders and back. The ones that get worse with stress and long days at the computer.

Personal Flair

Your bedroom is a great place to create a special spot, maybe a small altar, that represents you. If this seems a bit weird or you’re not familiar with the concept, you can think of it this way. This special area centers around the things that make you happy and feel recharged. It doesn’t need to be anything formal or fancy. Even just a pile of pillows in the corner with a good book and your favorite blanket can be your special spot.

When you wake up in the morning you want to be greeted with happy things that are meaningful. That way you’ll wake up inspired each day. Plus, in the evening it becomes the perfect place to de-stress and let go of things that might be worrying you.

If you need some inspiration, maybe being near a window and seeing outside enjoying some sunlight will recharge you. So, set up your special spot at your window with an end table and extra pillows. Put photos you love there, have your favorite book always handy, and light a fragrant candle whenever you’re going there to read or relax.

Take a peek at these comfy corners and see if that gets your inspiration going to create your own.

When you’re enjoying your new special spot, sip on some tea. It’s full of antioxidants, won’t overload you on caffeine, and the warmth from the mug can be incredibly relaxing. Then, escape all this with a good book or some funny podcasts or magazines. Try out something that is sure to lighten the mood and isn’t too sad. Catharsis is good, but don’t become so obsessed with the pandemic that you can’t step away from it for a bit. It’ll just put you in a feedback loop of bad news.

If you looking for a good place for a stretch and you’re a fan of meditation or yoga, your special spot can certainly be used for that. Swap the pillows or chair for a yoga mat so that you have a centered place for you to stretch, move, and replace any anxiety with good vibes. Throw on some meditation jams or classical, and it will provide a time where you’re out of your head and worrying less.

Not the Space for Work

Now that you’ve set up a special place just for you, make sure nothing invades that space that you don’t want. I’ve set up a pile of pillows and blankets in the corner and while I don’t mind my husband or pet joining me in some relaxation, there will be absolutely no mention of work or the pandemic while there. 

Imagine trying to relax with all that in your brain. It won’t work. Especially for all of us working from home isn’t important to not store work papers or devices in the bedroom. If your laptop is used predominately for work, it needs a new home. Got a book your reading for work? Don’t do that in your room. This is a work-free zone. If you work from your bed, maybe limit how often you’re doing that and whenever you’re finished, make sure to put that stuff away.

Our smart devices are often an issue for this because we need our phones, but use “do not disturb” and silent as much as you can. When you’re practicing self-care, it’s okay to scroll on your phone, but you might also like to set the thing down and see what more creative and rejuvenating activities you can try out. Paint, read, scribble doodles and silly poems. This is for you. They don’t have to be good.

Scent Power Through Essential Oils

Essential oils not only make your house smell great, but they can also help you to feel less stressed. Feeling down or have low energy, try a citrus or peppermint scent to perk you up. There are even scents that can ease headaches and stomach upsets. Lavender, frankincense, chamomile, and sandalwood help to ease anxiety and even help you sleep.

Make Your Bed Incredible

You sleep there, you rest there, and now with the Stay Home order, you may even be working there. Making your bed setup as comfortable and plush as you can right now will help you to sleep soundly and recover after long, stressful days.

Start at the base. If you were planning on getting a mattress because yours just doesn’t cut it anymore, now’s a good time to shop for one if you can. There are several sales that were extended and floor models that can give you incredible support at a big discount. 

Plus, we offer 0% Interest, No-Money-Down Financing for up to 72 months. We want you to be comfortable without breaking your bank, and we’re happy to work with you.

We also have some incredibly soft and smooth sheets from Malouf, plush and cooling pillows from them, and fluffy comforters that can keep you cozy. Malouf also offers an impressive weighted blanket that can help with anxiety. 

Let’s dive into that a bit.

Relief From Weighted Blankets

Weighted blankets are designed to mimic the benefits of deep touch pressure therapy, and research has shown that they can reduce anxiety, boost oxytocin levels, and help those with sensory processing disorders feel more relaxed. These blankets can be especially helpful when you’re feeling especially stressed because of the pandemic.

A weighted blanket looks just like a regular blanket, the important part in the inside. In fact, the Malouf Anchor Blankets we carry look incredible and they are so soft. I love mine.

Unlike a regular blanket, however, a weighted blanket has glass beads or pellets stuffed into pockets that provide the extra weight. In most constructions, these self-contained pockets help to evenly distributed the weight across the surface of the blanket.

Some blankets have pockets from about six to eight inches, while some provide smaller pockets of four inches. This can be preferable because the smaller size is better at keeping the weight evenly distributed. Most blankets are also provided in a couple of weight and size options. Why? Because weighted blankets are designed to be used by one person. You want a size and weight that will singularly suit you. 

How Does a Weighted Blanket Work?

Cozying up under a blanket is frequently a soothing activity for anyone. You might even have a favorite blanket or had one as a child. Feeling warm and cozy under a blanket feels nice.

Weighted blankets take the advantages of a regular blanket and match them with a therapy tool. First developed by autism researcher Dr. Temple Grandin, he observed cows being led through a compression device created to hold them in place for their vaccinations. She remarked that the cows were calmer and more docile as the machine squeezed them.

Dr. Grandin is on the autism spectrum herself and remembered how being hugged as a child frequently eased her anxiety and sensory processing disorder. However, she also understand that on some occasions, hugging had irritated or frightened her. She was curious if there was a way to assist those with autism and sensory processing disorders get the benefits of a hug without feeling confined or experiencing unwanted contact from a person.

Taking notes from the farm, she created a squeeze machine or hug machine, a therapy tool that applies firm but gentle pressure across the body. Like a hug, it encourages the release of oxytocin- a happiness hormone.

This is the science behind the weighted blanket- a squeezing, firm pressure that’s distributed to ease anxiety and stress without needing an actual hug. 

Selecting the correct weight for a weighted blanket is the most important step. Thankfully, it’s very simple. A blanket should be roughly 10-12% of your body weight, within a pound or two. If you weight about 150 pounds you’d want a 15-pound blanket. If you’re 200 pounds, a 20-pound blanket will work nicely. However, this isn’t an exact rule of law. If a 15-pound blanket feels better than a 20-pound blanket or vice versa, follow your heart.

They Can Lessen Anxiety

There are about 40 million people with anxiety in America, making it one of the most frequently reported mental illnesses in the country. According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA), anxiety is exceptionally treatable. However, they also report that only 36.9% of people with anxiety get the treatment they need.

Anxiety makes everyday life quite difficult, and it can make sleeping particularly troublesome. A study observed the vital signs of adults using weighted blankets and found that 63% of participants said they felt less anxious while using them.

The study also recorded a 33% drop in electrodermal activity, which is a response generated by the sweat glands often in response to stress. Those with anxiety often feel “exposed” when laying prone and a weighted blanket can assist to ease stress and finally get a good night’s sleep.

As an anxiety sufferer myself, I love the feeling of the weighted blanket when I’m going to bed. With times so crazy, I think we all could use an item like this that’s designed to help us feel more calm.

Your Safe Space

With your bedroom looking beautiful and ready for your self-care routine, you can get started on showering yourself in some much-needed love.

So, don’t miss out on the chance to make your Stay Home time as pleasant as it can be with the perfect cozy space. This is how you’ll be able to enjoy a stress-free retreat right in the comfort of your bedroom.

When you’re ready to start looking at options for your own home, check out the  bedroom accessories.

We’re also happy to answer any questions, so give us a call or contact us at info@bedplanet.com.