The best and worst bedroom colours for sleep, according to new study

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published 9 January 2022

All kinds of factors can impact on how well you sleep, from the amount of light creeping into your room at night, to whether you've invested in the best mattress for you, to how much screen time you've had before bed. One factor that you might not have really considered, beyond your own personal tastes, is the colour of your walls.

A new study is dedicated to trying to figure out which wall colours lead to the best quality sleep. A survey asked 1,064 American adults about their room setup, wall colour, and how well they typically slept, with some interesting results.

The colour most likely to keep your sleep tracker happy? According to Sleepjunkie's findings, it's purple. 84% of respondents with a purple room reported that they typically slept well. That was closely followed by blue, with a score of 76% positive responses. At the other end of the scale, only 58% of those with a green room said they typically slept well, and 62% of those with beige walls.

Before you rush to your local hardware store for a tin of lavender paint, it's worth also factoring in sample size. Purple was the least popular colour to be chosen in the survey, accounting for only 25 respondents, and beige amongst the most popular, which could well have skewed the findings somewhat.

The survey also looked into the room configurations that were associated with restful sleep, including where to put your bed in relation to a window, door, TV and so on. Check out the full results of the survey here. And if you're struggling with bad sleep, some have found using a sunrise lamp to help you wind down and wake up more naturally, or even swapping your duvet for a weighted blanket, can help. Head to our best wake-up light and best weighted blanket guides for more info, plus our recommendations.

Ruth is a lifestyle journalist specialising in sleep and wellbeing. She has tested more mattresses than her small flat can handle and will talk at length about them to anyone who shows even a passing interest, and has had to implement a one-in-one-out pillow policy for fear of getting smothered in the night. As well as following all the industry trends and advancements in the mattress and bedding world, she regularly speaks to certified experts to delve into the science behind a great night's sleep, and offer you advice to help you get there. She's currently Sleep Editor on Tom's Guide and TechRadar, and prior to that ran the Outdoors and Wellness channels on T3 (now covered by Matt Kollat and Beth Girdler-Maslen respectively).