What Is Bed Rotting and How Much Is Too Much?

What Is Bed Rotting?

Bed rotting is a self-care trend originating on TikTok in 2023. It involves staying in bed for an entire day, or several days at a time.

It is most popular among members of Gen Z, but people of all ages have been sharing their bed rotting experiences online.

Those who feel burned out from work, school, social engagements and other demands on their time and energy claim that bed rotting helps them relax and recharge. There is no scientific research about bed rotting (yet), so all of its reported benefits are anecdotal.

However, mental health experts warn that bed rotting may be a potentially dangerous self-care habit.

What Are the Benefits of Bed Rotting?

In theory, spending an entire day in bed sounds like a dream, doesn’t it? You can almost feel yourself relaxing just thinking about it.

Here’s why bed rotting might be good for you:

• It allows you to catch up on lost sleep. If you haven’t been getting enough sleep during the week, sleeping in on the weekend might help repay some of that sleep debt. However, a study published in Sleep Medicine has found that extra weekend sleep won’t help if your sleep debt is extensive.⁽¹⁾ In other words, aim to have a consistent sleep schedule. If you have a sleep debt of a couple of hours, you can catch up on the occasional weekend.

• It lets you rest. When you make the conscious decision not to get out of bed for the day, your mind and body will enter rest mode. Knowing you don’t have to do anything provides mental relief, as you can minimize that to-do list in your head for a while. Your body will also have time to repair some of the damage you keep inflicting on it with your daily activities.

• It can reduce stress levels. Said time to rest can help your mind and body de-stress, helping you reduce the risk of burnout or manage its symptoms if you’re already suffering from it.

• It lets you think. Putting life on pause, so to speak, can also provide the time and space to take stock of your life, get in touch with your feelings and potentially untangle some mental or emotional knots.

• It provides the time for your favorite activities. Bed rotting can also be a great way to finally read that book, watch that movie or just have a long gab with a friend.

What Are the Dangers of Bed Rotting?

As with most things in life, the key to effective bed rotting is moderation. Spending too much time in bed, or bed rotting every weekend, does have negative effects.

• Lack of physical activity is bad for mental health. A study published in Nature’s Scientific Reports has found that long-term sedentary behavior triggers depressive symptoms.⁽²⁾ If you spend too much time in bed, your mental health will start to suffer.

• You will be missing out on life. If all you do on the weekends is lie in bed, you’ll soon start to miss out on the opportunities to see friends, engage in outdoor hobbies and enjoy your life more fully. It can even lead to social isolation and feelings of loneliness.

• You will form a bad habit. Humans are creatures of habit. The more you do something, the more likely you are to keep doing it. If you spend a lot of time in bed, you will find it increasingly difficult to get up and get on with life.

• You may start to avoid problems. If retreating to your bed becomes your default way of dealing with life’s challenges, you will develop a dangerously avoidant habit. Running away instead of facing issues will quickly start to damage your mental health and significantly increase your stress levels.

• Your body will start to ache. Spending too much time lying down can lead to muscle and joint pain. Your neck, shoulders and back are the most likely to suffer.

When Is Bed Rotting a Sign Something Is Wrong?

Occasional bed rotting is not an issue. However, if you notice that you want to do it every weekend, if you have trouble getting out of bed, and everyday activities become more difficult, consider it a warning sign.

Those who have been diagnosed with depression and/or anxiety should also be very careful with bed rotting. It will naturally appear more appealing to them, as they already tend to suffer from low energy and mood. If you find you’re spending time engaging in passive activities in bed for extended periods of time, seek professional help.

How Does Bed Rotting Impact Sleep?

Spending too much time in bed will negatively affect your sleep, especially if you already have some sleep issues, like insomnia.

First, while you may initially feel that sleeping more than usual is recharging your batteries, habitually oversleeping will make you feel sluggish and slow. While sleep does reduce stress, too much of it will ultimately have the opposite effect.

More importantly, spending too much time in bed will start to confuse your brain. It will no longer associate getting into bed with sleep, so it will become increasingly difficult to fall asleep when you actually want to.

This is more likely to happen if you tend to bed rot in the evenings.

How to Bed Rot in a Safe Way

Here’s how you can make sure you reap the benefits of bed rotting, without doing any harm to your mental and physical health:

• Set a firm limit. Decide how much time you want to spend in bed and stick to it. The absolute maximum should be one whole day, with regular breaks to stretch your legs.

• Get out of bed in the morning. Brush your teeth, take a shower if you shower in the mornings, and definitely change out of your pajamas. That way, you’ll firmly tell your body a new day has started, and going back to bed just happens to be your chosen activity for the time being.

• Move every hour. Get out of bed and do some light stretching. It will prevent the aches and pains that come from being inactive for too long.

• Choose your activities wisely. It will be very tempting to spend all day doomscrolling or aimlessly watching TV. That would be the worst possible activity for a day in bed. Instead, try reading, journaling, watching a specific movie or TV show, playing a video game, coloring, drawing, knitting, or any other sedentary hobby that does not involve your phone. Ideally, you will leave it on airplane mode in another room.

• Do not bed rot every weekend. Limit your bed rotting activities to once a month at most, but hopefully you’ll only do it a few times a year.

• Monitor how you feel. Does bed rotting make you feel more energized or slower? If you find you want to get out of bed earlier than planned, do it. The purpose of the exercise is to feel better, so if you feel like going for a workout or cleaning the apartment, go for it!

If you’re feeling stressed, instead of bed rotting, try some other self-care activities. Take a walk with a friend. Meditate or journal. Try a new hobby or activity. Do something you enjoyed doing as a child. Listen to your favorite music. Watch something funny.

Conclusion

Bed rotting is a popular self-care trend that certainly has its potential benefits, but it can prove to be dangerous for your well-being. If you decide to do it, make sure it is an intentional practice you only engage in when you desperately need a break from everyday life.