Ask any beauty expert or wellness guru the secret to better health both inside and out, and they’ll tell you the same thing: a proper night’s sleep. In our high intensity, fast-paced, over-stimulated lives, the importance of a restful sleep is often overlooked. But the benefits of sleep for our bodies and minds couldn’t be clearer.

The key to a better night’s sleep is the right environment, and what’s on your bedside table can play a major part in perfecting your bedtime routine for optimal sleep. A cluttered environment creates a restless mind and prevents us from switching off. Items and objects stacked on a bedside table can be a reminder of all the things left undone from the day and can cause anxiety, keeping us from switching off for a restful night’s sleep.

Keep your bedside table clean, tidy and organised to create a restful and calming environment for your mind. Here are a few ways you can organise your bedside table for a better night’s sleep:

Create a tech-free zone

It can seem necessary to keep your phone on your bedside table as it’s often used as an alarm clock. However, keeping a mobile phone next to your bed is one of the key contributors to a poor sleep routine. The blue light emitted from smartphones, TVs and laptops plays havoc with the sleep hormone melatonin, which in turn has negative repercussions on the quality and quantity of your sleep.

Dave Gibson, sleep expert at thesleepsite.co.uk suggests “putting phones away from your bed overnight, avoiding the temptation to both use them late at night for texting, social media and sending emails from the bed, and to stop them being used with their snooze function, which can also disrupt a healthy sleep routine”. Swap the phone for a stylish alarm clock – you can even try one with a dawn simulator that can gently wake you in a natural way.

Get reading

According to a sleep routine survey conducted by luxury furniture designer OKA, 67% of people read a book before they go to sleep and keep an average of three books on their bedside table. Studies have shown that reading a book (not from your tablet or smartphone!) is a great way of destressing and unwinding at the end of the day.

So grab your favourite novel and keep it handy on your bedside table. If you have a couple books that you want to keep close at hand, try a bedside table with storage solutions such as a cabinet or shelves to keep them organised and tidied away to avoid clutter.

Create the right lighting

A bedside lamp that radiates a dim, soft, soothing light is a necessity for your bedside table. In the evening, it’s useful to switch to a low lighting for at least 30 minutes before you go to sleep, and 14% of those surveyed by OKA admitted to sleeping with a light on. Rather than using a harsh ceiling light at night, a low, warm soft light from a bedside table lamp creates a cosy environment in your room that will get you ready for a restful night’s sleep.