Can Making Your Bed Really Improve Your Mental Health?
As we’re in the limbo stage between winter and spring, attention is divided in the media between the big de-clutter and combatting the effects of lower moods due to a lack of sunlight.
It’s a fact that many of us actually experience lower moods in the winter as the shortened days, financial pressures and weather leave us feeling down. However, spring is on the way and soon we’ll be harnessing our energies to refreshing our home environments but before then there is one small task you can do daily to lift your mood!
What Difference Does Making your Bed Make?
Apparently even the clutter queens amongst us can benefit from making our bed, as it adds calm to an otherwise chaotic environment. The mental impact is actually quite significant as it helps you to begin your day feeling productive, and ensures your private oasis (aka your bed) is ready when you’re ready to say goodbye to the day.
It’s also extremely beneficial if you have children as relationship experts always encourage parents to have one space that is their own, to make the bedroom an adult only retreat. Ensuring the bed is made at all times promotes a feeling of serenity and calm when entering, even if the rest of the house is a Lego minefield!
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“The State of Your Bed is the State of Your Head”
When we delve a little deeper it becomes obvious that our beds should be the focus of our daily routines. We spend over a third of our lives sleeping in them and they are our retreat after a hard day, our comfort when we’re ill, our romantic spot when in the mood and our cosy sanctuary when all we want to do is curl up with a good book. The bed itself plays an integral part in keeping our minds healthy so we should at least repay the favour by ensuring its well-dressed at all times!
The Results from the Guinea Pigs
Many bloggers, after seeing the studies, have taken it upon themselves to make their own beds every morning before work. It’s interesting to see that everyone claims they feel more able to take on the day, more motivated to complete other household chores and lighter in mind knowing this three minute task is complete.
The Science and the Statistics
What is the science behind bed making? Apparently it promotes keystone habits that then lead onto other positive habits that enhance the happiness of daily life considerably. Gretchen Rubin, the author of the Happiness Project also insists that during her research, the art of bed making was repeatedly mentioned as the key to contentment.
The statistics also show that 71 per cent of bed makers consider themselves happy; while 62 per cent of non-bed-makers admit to being unhappy. Of course this could be complete coincidence and the survey by Hunch.com could have simply happened across a deluge of happy bed makers. We guess the only way to know for sure is to give it a go!
If making your bed can make you happier, we wonder what changing or updating your bed could do. Right now, we have a great sale on some luxurious Italian leather beds that will look amazing fully dressed!
This post was originally written for Amode by Martina Mercer
