Why Working in Bed or Your Bedroom Is The Worst Idea Ever
Working in bed feels like a great thing to do. It seems like it would be the most comfortable place to work, and many of us reach for our phones as soon as we wake up. It’s also the last thing we do before we go to bed. This might be to check our emails, check up on social media or anything we can do on our phones. This is even before we pull our laptop into bed.
Some of us may have our desks set up in our bedrooms too, as it may be the only place you can get some quiet to work. Although this all sounds like a great idea you could be inadvertently disrupting your sleep and ensuring your sleep quality isn’t great at all. Here are five ways that working in bed or the bedroom can be less than ideal for your sleep.
The associations you create when you work in your bedroom
When we walk into our bedroom it’s lovely to feel relaxed and calm instantly. This is perfect for sleeping and allows many of us to drift off to sleep without any problems.
When we work in our bedroom, on the bed or at a desk, feeling calm and relaxed when we walk into the room is far from possible. Our minds start to think about all the things we need to do and the work we were doing. Even if it’s in the background and under the surface, the thoughts are there.
We come to associate our bedrooms with working and this means we’re in for a less than restful night’s sleep.
Instead, create a mini office in the corner of another room even if the only option is the guest bedroom. Moving your office stuff out for guests to sleep in there every so often is a lot less hassle than being tired all the time from less than quality sleep every night.
Your posture when you work in bed
Sitting in bed to work is terrible for your posture. Working anywhere with your laptop or device below or above elbow height means you’re either slouching or have shrugged shoulders. Before long, your neck and back start to ache.
It’s best to sit at a table or desk and make sure your seat is high enough to allow your hands to sit comfortably on the keyboard at elbow height without putting pressure on your wrists. In an ideal world the screen would be an arm’s length away and your eyes at the same height as the top of the screen. This means you avoid looking down which causes you to hunch over.
If you’re working on a laptop the way to ensure you have the right posture is to invest in a wireless mouse and keyboard. You can then elevate your laptop on a laptop stand or a pile of books. BOOM! Bye-bye aching back and bad posture!
The light from your devices when working in bed before going to sleep
This is a no brainer. We all know that using a screen just before bed isn’t great for our sleep. The light from the device disrupts our body clock, which relies on the change of light as the day progresses to produce the hormones we need to make us feel sleepy at the right time. Using our laptop or any device regularly just before we snuggle down in bed isn’t helpful when it comes to getting off to sleep. Our body isn’t ready to sleep because it thinks it’s still bright and we should be up and about.
The clutter your work can create in your bedroom
However much we keep our desks clear and tidy, having a desk or pile of work stuff in the corner of our bedroom is clutter than we don’t need in there. It creates unnecessary dust, and laptop and desktop fans are notorious for being the dustiest places on our desks! Plus, do you ever lift your desktop or laptop and wipe under it? Be honest.
Having all that extra dust and dirt in your bedroom is not great for sleeping well. Dustiness means a stuffy nose, which means a dry mouth and not sleeping well at all.
Move everything work-related out of your bedroom and remove all the dust and dirt with it.
The noise the devices make when you work in your bedroom
If you don’t turn your laptop or desktop off entirely or you don’t even shut them down and keep them in sleep mode, the fan might come on every so often. This may not sound like it’s much to keep you awake, but even a constant low humming can disrupt your sleep. And what about your router? Is that in your bedroom too? Any electrical device that’s in your bedroom has the potential to reduce your sleep quality through the low humming it emits. We can’t even hear it during the day, but at night when it’s quiet, it’s pretty much like sleeping in the kitchen with the low hum of the fridge, and no one would choose to sleep in the kitchen with the fridge, would they?
The best thing to do if you want to sleep well and be on top form every day is to never work in your bedroom. Simple.
Originally published at https://snuzzze.co.uk on April 28, 2020.
