… And at worst, actively making your bedroom less functional and more cumbersome to use. The arguments I hear in favor of it are completely asinine and I will address them one by one.
- It makes it more comfortable to sleep in.
I have absolutely no idea where that comes from. Do you all sleep like Dracula? My bedding is usually tussled about within minutes of me laying in bed. Blankets balled up for knee support, one leg sticking out for temperature venting. I couldn’t imagine sliding under the covers and laying perfectly supine like Vladimir Lenin.
- It doesn’t take much time, so you might as well do it.
I find any task not worth my time to be a waste, so unless it has a purpose, it is actively infuriating to do.
- It looks nice. And an unmade bed looks lazy
Given that this is an entirely subjective reason, I can’t exactly “disagree” with it. But if there was someone I trust enough to be in my bedroom, I’m not going to waste my time convincing you that I do not, in fact, sleep in my bed.
Not to mention that if you want to nap or even sit on the end of the bed, you have to make it again. It is an incredibly unstable artwork, making me avoid using my bed unless I really need to.
If you make your bed, I have no judgment for you. Just like people who fold designs into the ends of their toilet paper. I couldn’t imagine caring about something like that, but it literally doesn’t affect me at all, so go nuts.
But I think we should be honest and call it what it is: some kind of shameful cleaning ritual that is probably some vestigial military chore, and I want nothing to do with it.
Generally speaking, I agree with you, for many people… yeah there isn’t really any real compelling reason to habitually do this.
However, there are fairly common circumstances where this does actually make sense:
Maybe you just have a tad of OCD, and well… this’ll make you feel a bit more steady and comfortable, and it doesn’t really hurt anyone, assuming you’re not full blown OCD doing it over and over and over because its never perfect.
Maybe you are mildy to moderately depressed… and… just being able to have any kind of regular structure, regular task that you can accomplish… maybe that means you’re not a completely useless piece of shit, and if you can keep up this good habit, and give yourself a pat on the back each time… maybe that means you can start to step up toward more, or bigger tasks.
Maybe you’re a bit ADHD, and its… anchoring, helpful, to have that same just bit of predictable structure or routine, to help you get your day started.
Maybe you have a cPTSD / Trauma response to a messy bed from associating it with very shitty situations in your past, and… having a made bed just removes a trigger for you.
…
Or maybe you have pets, or toddlers, and don’t want to ‘lose’ them, lol, or have their uh, debris of whatever sort, just get everywhere in the bed.
Maybe you live in a studio and eat food on your bed, clip your nails on it, and you adopt a regular ‘crumb removal from your bed’ routine as basically just a hygeine pattern, like brushing your teeth or hair or what not.
Maybe your heat went out or its just fucking freezing, and having a properly made bed makes it just a bit warmer to get into for sleep.
Maybe you have very fancy, high maintenance bedding, that will wrinkle and deform if not regularly … re normalized?
(Yeah I dunno, this is apparently a thing, I am apparently either too simple or broke a man to have ever entertained the idea of a high maintenance bed, but apparently people do?)
I’m with you here. It does look nicer when it’s all “setup” but for its purpose, I agree… makes no sense if I’m going to be under the covers anyway. Society plays stupid games and well… you know the rest.
It is actually generally better to not make your bed, particularly if you have asthma or allergies. Making the bed creates a warm, humid environment in which dust mites and bacteria better thrive.
Making your bed, is not the same chore for everyone. Some people have many layers and pillows on a fully accessorized sleeping platform. Yes it would be a chore to do that daily (personal opinion). And some people have a duvet, in a duvet cover on a mattress with a fitted sheet on it. Very easy to just shake that duvet over the bed and move on. 30 seconds and done. For some people, making the bed means folding up the duvet and leaving it across the foot of the bed so the mattress can air out all day. And then there is this interesting setup from Germany
However, I think the real subject here is… it’s no one else’s business what happens in your bedroom. Paint it plaid, sleep on a pile of plushies, have orgies, do your taxes in a corner chair, hang all your underwear on pants hangers from a rod suspended from the ceiling. Whatever. Your bedroom, your privacy.
If you’re having orgies it’s at least a few other people’s business.
I feel this. Depending on the season, my wife and i have sheets, blanket(s) (sometimes weighted blanket for her restless legs), duvet cover, 6-10 pillows, an extra blanket across the foot of the bed. She yells at me for not making the bed. Ive come to doing the sheets, and duvet cover, and the 2 pillows we rest our heads on. I dont even want to do that much, but its the most ill do on this battle front.
I had one of those sleep number mattresses once, they have inflatable air bags inside so they zip open and you can get at all the layers of foam too. If you saw how much moisture gets trapped in there you’d do like I do and turn your covers down for the day so everything can dry and air out.
Making your bed all nice and tight just traps a whole lot of moisture.
I thought the one thing to worry about with the bedsheets is not to grow a large population of mites in them. So you mainly want to keep it ventilated.
I like it to look nice and neat. Mess and disorder puts me on edge. I like the bed made with the pillows fluffed and throw pillows placed in a certain way. And I do feel like it’s more comfortable to sleep in a bed that has been made, because the pillows are fluffed and all the sheets are smoothed out and evenly distributed between my husband and me. I do just get in bed and turn over, I don’t rearrange anything, and instead of a blanket I have my hubby for knee support :)
deleted by creator
Only if you get nothing from it.
I think y’all have a fundamental misunderstanding of why beds were ‘made’ in the first place. Tight sheets prevent vermin from slipping between the sheets and waiting until you climb in to experience nightmare fuel. It’s a great thing that this doesn’t happen often in our first world experience… but let things slip a little and this becomes a necessity, not a weird habit.
Another reason: it helps keep the the bed warmer on cold days. When it’s a really cold night and you get into a made bed, it’s so much easier to warm yourself up.
for those not living in a place with electricity, sure
I’m with ya, but if you have critters roaming around inside, you have bigger issues to address, like the critters roaming around inside.
Some of those critters are domesticated (as you mentioned before)
I make my bed for the discipline. I force myself to do something I don’t want to do. It helps with overall being less lazy and having more willpower in a sense.
I don’t do it because I’m lazy, and I’m just going to pull it apart again in a few hours.
You do you but making your bed will get you laid
I sleep in a hammock and so “making my bed” is just "shove all the blankets into hammock so they’re off the floor. I’ll have to rearrange them over myself when I go to bed, anyway.
Back when I slept in a bed I never made it, either, unless I was expecting company. If they were sleeping over I’d pull out fresh sheets. If we were just hanging out in my room, I’d pull the comforter flat.
Oh, and I never got the hang of flat sheets. I kick them off in the night, unless they’re my only blanket.
What made you prefer a hammock over a mattress?
It’s more comfortable and easier to clean. Comfort-wise, it cradles my joints so my hips aren’t sore in the morning. Clean-wise, if, say, my dog wakes me up by vomiting on my chest (to pick a random example), I can toss the whole hammock into the wash and pull out my spare.
A decent hammock setup also cost me maybe $200, including the stand.
Can you share a photo of the hammock or link to the product? I’m imagining a hammock that’s like a pea pod and that would be uncomfortable. But I’m intrigued by the idea.
Here’s a photo of the messiest corner of my bedroom/craft room :) Tiny terrier to for scale.
I’m intensely curious now, because my joints don’t seem to agree with any mattress, whether pillow-topped, air foam, springs, or whatever other fancy gimmicks they claim. Was it a one-and-done with the hammock, or did you test a couple of different ones?
I started out with a hammock in living room as an experiment, then just kept sleeping in it. Same stand, the hammock itself has changed over the years.
The mesh/Mayan ones are comfy but will leave a grid on your skin. I’m currently in a Wise Owl hammock. The cotton ones are comfy but they will break down after a few years of use, usually suddenly while you’re laying down.
Don’t hang your hammock higher than you’re comfortable falling. I’ve only torn a hammock twice in maybe 10 years, but both times were within the same week.
I’m a side sleeper and hyper-mobile. I keep a pillow behind my knees so they don’t flex wonky. I have a travel/neck pillow. I use an under-hammock blanket in the winter because otherwise your butt gets cold.
Oh! And even the hammocks that claim you can fit multiple people… they lie. This is not a bed for partners or sleepovers. (My partner has his own room and traditional bed. We have very different bedtimes.)
My SO hates sheet wrinkles so for them it’s not performative.
I’d be fine with an assortment or flat sheets and blankets loosely rolled into a ball that I could both lay inside or on top of.
This opinion is actuaöly very popular with me.
