The best blackout blinds for a great night's sleep

In a perfect world, we’d all be enjoying eight hours of shut-eye every night. Yet, according to the Good Housekeeping Institute's survey into our readers' sleep routines, only 15% of you are getting the recommended amount of rest.

Everything from stress to not having the best mattress can contribute to disrupted sleep. And not only can a bad night leave you feeling grumpy in the morning, but it can also affect both your mental and physical wellbeing. That’s why so many of us are investing more in our sleep set-up, from the best mattress toppers to trackers.

Before you turn to the best sleep gadgets for help though, make sure you have the basics sorted, which includes preventing light from outside seeping in and keeping you awake. The best blackout blinds will ensure your room is dark when you’re trying to catch as many of those all-important Zs as possible.

To find out which ones actually keep the light out, our experts at the Good Housekeeping Institute put them to the test with the help of our at-home panel. These are their top picks, but scroll on for the detailed reviews, plus our guide to finding the right one for you.

Are blackout blinds worth buying?

A blackout blind will help stop external light streaming into your bedroom while you’re trying to sleep. They’re often made with thicker, opaque fabric – commonly, polyester as it's affordable, durable and excellent at blocking light.

And, yes, they’re worth investing in, as the sun’s rays, street lamps and car headlights can all contribute to too much light flooding our sleep environment and interrupting our circadian rhythms (our body clock), resulting in disrupted sleep.

According to one study, light exposure as low as 100 lux (the level of light you need to see where you’re going in the dark), can be enough to affect your sleep.

The impact goes beyond the quality of your sleep too. As GP and longevity and sleep expert, Dr. Alka Patel, explains, it can also affect your metabolism and nervous system. “In studies where people were exposed to a small amount of light at night, their heart rates stayed up and they had higher sugar levels in the morning,” she says.

Blackout blinds don’t just come in handy at night, either. If you work night shifts and struggle to sleep for long enough during the day, they can be a transformative purchase. Not only will they block out daylight so you can drift off more easily, but they can also muffle noise from outside and provide extra privacy.

Similarly, parents with babies and small children may also find blackout blinds a useful buy for limiting light exposure and making nap time easier during the day.

What are the disadvantages of blackout blinds?

Our sleep patterns are all unique, which means blackout blinds may not suit everyone. In fact, some can find them disruptive. Blackout blinds may not be for you if:

• You struggle to wake up in the morning: Blocking out natural light can make those early mornings harder. Without the gradual light of the sun, you can be groggy and find you reach for the snooze button more. Instead, you may prefer to invest in a sunrise alarm clock.
• You’re trying to establish a good sleeping pattern during your baby’s developmental stages: While they can help with daytime naps or when nights are lighter for longer in the summer, as blackout blinds reduce the chances of being woken by natural light, a baby could struggle to develop a good circadian rhythm. If you’re concerned about this, however, a simple fix is to open the blinds at the time you want your baby to wake in the morning, helping to establish a good routine.

Do blackout blinds keep the heat out?

As blackout blinds are designed to stop the sun’s rays creeping into your room and waking you up, they’ll also block out quite a bit of the heat. Some options, like our winner from John Lewis, are labelled as ‘thermal’ blinds. These often have an additional layer of insulation in the blackout coating to protect against heat loss in the winter and overheating in the summer.

It’s also worth considering the colour of your blackout blinds if you’re trying to regulate the temperature inside a room. Lighter colours reflect heat better than darker shades, so are more likely to keep your space cool.

If you’re concerned about heat during the summer and want a more reliable solution, it’s worth investing in one of our best tower fans.

How we test

To find the best blackout blinds, we recruited a panel of readers to test them over three weeks. They assessed how effectively each blind kept their bedrooms dark, as well as feeding back on the general quality of the material, whether the blinds were wrinkled when first unpacked and if those wrinkles disappeared over time.

To ensure they were up to our Good Housekeeping Institute-Approved standards, panellists also reported back on the installation process, the simplicity of the instructions and whether they needed any extra help to put the blind up. Our experts then collated all the information to award the final scores.