Millennials and Gen Z are abusing their days off and weekends to engage in “bed-rotting” – a trend that sees people spend the entire day curled up under the comfort of their duvet, sleeping in, watching TV or mindlessly scrolling on a device.
It’s meant to be a way to unwind or avoid burnout after a long week at work, but according to Samantha Boardman, a psychiatrist and clinical instructor at Weill-Cornell Medical College and author of the book “Everyday Vitality, Turning Stress Into Strength,” the trend may be doing more harm than good.
“It’s very tempting,” Boardman tells CNBC Make It. “But the reality is that a lot of people don’t feel much better after a prolonged period of being depressed. If anything, they feel a little more exhausted.”
Bedtime can potentially throw off your circadian rhythm, your body’s natural alarm clock that tells you when to sleep and wake up, Boardman says. If you’ve ever had a bad day, or simply slept longer than usual, you may have felt groggy and less rested, or that it was harder to fall asleep at a reasonable time.
Getting enough sleep is important for your health. But too much sleep is also associated with many health problems, including heart disease, obesity and depression, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine.
Research also shows that staring at your phone or TV screen for long periods of time can lead to eye strain, sleep problems and poor mental health.
If you sleep too much, binge-watch a new series or get lost in social media, you’re not really resting, says Boardman. You’re just distracting yourself from the problem at hand, whether it’s work exhaustion, a stressful issue or an unhealthy lifestyle.
Lying in bed for hours may sound like a good idea when you need to unwind, but the key to actual rest is more “mindful,” which is “often the opposite of what we want to do,” Boardman says.
Try shaking up your routine, she says. She recommends doing low-intensity exercise or relaxing activities that put you in a good mental state and help your body recover.
It may sound counterintuitive, but according to Boardman, rest can consist of any activity that restores your mental or physical well-being in the long term.
“When you go for a walk outside, you’re meeting up with a friend and doing something that you might be dreading but will probably make you feel a lot better,” says Boardman.
Research shows that nature walks are particularly effective in promoting mental health and well-being. For example, a 40-minute walk in nature helped people feel more restored and focused than a 40-minute walk in an urban area.
Force yourself to do something productive, even if it’s just for a few minutes. Boardman asks her clients to keep a log of the activities they dread, rank their dreadfulness on a scale of one to ten, and then write down how they felt after the task was completed.
“They’re usually really glad that they did that… They got outside, they had one-on-one time with someone they care about, they were in nature in some way,” she says. “Doing something small is much more restorative [than bed rotting].”
If leaving the house really isn’t an option, you can still find better ways to de-stress than just lying in bed, says Dianne Augelli, a sleep specialist at Weill Cornell Medicine/New-York Presbyterian.
To avoid disrupting your sleep, move your crappy session to the couch, kitchen table or a guest room, she told TODAY.com in 2023. Alternate scrolling time with reading or meditating, she added. You can also walk around your house or do a quick follow-along workout to get your blood flowing.
Active rest can take some effort, says Boardman. But “it can really help” to ensure you’re truly refreshed and recharged.
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