… 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.
I have 2 dogs, and I’d prefer their shed hair ON the bed, rather than IN the bed.
This is something that’s recently been changing my tune towards making my bed. And it’s not just hair, but dirt and schmutz they drag in from outside.
THANK you. My cat was adorable, but inhaling her fur while trying to get to sleep was difficult…
…I don’t understand. How do you not inhale her fur when she places her butthole right on your lips as you fall asleep?
…what? Is my cat the ONLY one who does this???
Every pet thread there is at least one comment that reminds me how happy I am to not be a pet owner
Another reason: I tend to perspire in my sleep. And if I were to make my bed in the morning and cover up the sweaty sheets, that’s a recipe for a real bad time when I go back to bed.
Gross as it may be, that’s the life of a sweaty sleeper.I pull mine down for the same reason
Yup folded back over in half so only covering the bottom part of the bed with the top half of the bed and sheet exposed is my go to. Still looks tidy but nice and airy.
You make the mistake of assuming that someone makes it look nice for someone else and not themselves.
Depression is a motherfucker. It really can rob that from you.
It’s also a pain in the ass if you don’t have a lot of space around your bed. My parent’s “camp” has a queen bed in basically a cubby and the only way to completely change the sheets to to hunch down on what’s basically a side sill for the bed and contort yourself over it to stretch the sheets from corner to corner without having to kneel on the bed for support. I just stopped using a fitted sheet and throw a new top sheet on it once a week or so. works fine. plus its in a cubby so nobody sees the mess.
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.
I’m with ya, but if you have critters roaming around inside, you have bigger issues to address, like the critters roaming around inside.
I’m on the fence about the popularity of this opinion, so I’ll upvote after I respond.
But you missed out in your data gathering. There are other reasons to make a bed, if not daily, at least regularly.
First, my bonafides. Twenty years as a nurse’s assistant. That meant making beds and taking care of the people in them was my responsibility.
As such, I not only had to wonder if it was more than just an optics thing, but make sure that if it wasn’t, I was following best practices. See, if there were reasons to do it beyond those you listed, it would shift priorities, as well as maybe changing when and how I did the job.
Comfort is only part of it, though it isz a factor when a person can’t shift their own linens.
See, those folds of fabric can, and do, apply pressure to skin differently than flat sections. So remaking a patient’s bed becomes a necessity. Matter of fact, it becomes necessary to check their linens while performing care, though that’s tangential.
Secondary to that is dislodging anything on the sheets. This includes, but is not limited to, particles of dirt, dead skin, lint, items dropped previous to the bed check, and more. That’s the factor that matters most for people that can make their own beds. You don’t really realize how much stuff is on the sheets just from one night of use unless you make beds regularly.
There’s a sub-reason to that as well. Evaluation. While a lot of people do change sheets on a schedule, often timed with laundry day or days, there may be need to change sheets in between times. No way to be aware of that necessity if it’s from an unknown cause unless you check the sheets. And there’s no better way to check them than the process of making a bed. Smoothing things out allows to to both visually and tactilely examine the condition of the sheets.
Now, I can almost guarantee someone reading this is thinking “but I don’t do anything nasty in my sheets”. Yes, you do. Promise. Everyone does, they just don’t know it. Even climbing in fresh out of the shower and not moving after, you’re leaving stuff behind when you climb out again. May take longer to build up, but it’s there.
All those little bits you leave behind are food. Food for something. Mites, bacteria, fungi, whatever. So no matter how clean you are, making your bed at least decreases what’s left behind.
Making a bed properly does take time. Not a whole lot, and practice makes it faster, but it’s more than just throwing the top sheets back in place.
So, I would encourage folks to take the time to at least smooth their sheets out a little before they climb in, if nothing else.
tl;dr
make your bed
@srasmus Live a lazy life, get lazy rewards.
Fatal counter point to all your arguments:
It feels better when you do.
Literally none of your logical arguments matter one iota because the human brain does not care how much you logic an argument. It feels nicer and more comforting climbing into a made bed then an unmade one.
Also, lying on wrinkly sheets is inherently uncomfortable.
Your “fatal counter point” is that you like it, and surely every single human brain feels the exact same way?
Also, lying on wrinkly sheets is inherently uncomfortable.
And can cause bedsores.
Like sure, but that feels beyond the scope of a bed making discussion.
Not really, the discomfort felt on wrinkly sheets directly precede them. Even healthy skin can break overnight, during humidity, pressure, friction, etc.
You shift your body subconsciously all of the time, especially while sitting/lying down; this naturally prevents bed sores
If you’re at risk of developing bed sores from wrinkly sheets, then you probably won’t have the strength to make your bed every day. Bed sores are more frequent with neuropathy, weakness, altered mental status etc; but for the average healthy folk… no, wrinkly sheets won’t (significantly) increase your risk for bed sores
Underlying conditions (acute or chronic) are the reasons for bed sores. You can have a perfectly smooth bed, but if you’re not making subtle weight shifts, you’ll get a bed sore
No, healthy skin cannot do that from a wrinkle. I have never made my bed since early childhood, and i have never woken up with a new break in my skin
How about when you have crumbs all over the bed after snaccing and you need a less itchy place to lie down.
