Curtains - For a Peaceful Sleep?

I'm one of those people who take so long to fall asleep, it's so annoying as I just can't seem to switch off my brain and stop overthinking. Over the past couple of years I have found ways of helping me get to sleep quicker such as not watching scary tv shows/films before bed (you'd have thought that at 23 I would know this already...), having a pamper night and staying away from my phone/iPad which is so difficult! However, did you know that curtains could affect the quality of your sleep? 

This is a sponsored post and I will be looking into some research on sleep and which factors affect your sleep (my degree is coming in pretty useful here!). Researchers at Oxford University conducted a study involving 113,000 women and have found that light bedrooms can have an effect on women's waistlines which is a slightly concerning finding, that sleep quality and light levels in your bedrooms can negatively affect your weight. Additionally Dr Mercola, suggests that light entering around your curtains or the light from your alarm clock can interrupt your natural sleep patterns. Exposure to light, sometimes even dim light, before going to sleep has been found to affect melatonin levels in animals and humans which is important as melatonin is thought to be an internal sleep facilitator or sleep promoting agent - therefore it is best to keep your bedroom dark. 

Professor Derk-Jan Dijk, from the Surrey Sleep Centre, suggests that accessing your bedroom and finding out how easy it would be to make it darker, is the first step. One of the ways to decrease the amount of light would be to invest in blackout blinds or blackout curtains. Blackout curtains from Yorkshire Linen range from £14.99 to £109.99 in a wide variety of shades. They offer great quality products at reasonable prices and they offer free delivery (to UK mainland orders) over £50. 

I also like the blackout blinds from Ikea which start from £14. I was going to get some from Ikea for my bedroom when it was redecorated earlier this year but I went with light coloured blinds instead (which is a big mistake now!). Dunelm Mill and Next also have some - the Next ones are pretty pricey though.

Do you have blackout blinds or curtains in your bedroom? What do you think of this research?