I don't like going to bed. Nor do I like getting out of it. It's a conundrum.
My office desk is exactly 7 feet away from my bedroom. Every time I leave my office to go downstairs or outside this is what I see. Comfortable bed, napping cat, linen bedding, fluffy duvet ...
It's not that much of a temptation in the summer, but in this gutter of a season we call late winter - it's as persuasive as a late night infomercial to an insomniac. I've only succumbed to the temptation once or twice and the main reason for that is not my military-like discipline. It's the fact that my bed is already made.
If it were all a jumble of sheets and pillowy down I might be more likely to swan dive into it. But it's made, so I continue on with my day instead of curling up to sleep. Pulling back the covers and getting into an already made bed in the middle of the day is pathetic. Whereas falling into one that's still an unmade mess is just practical. Smartly taking advantage of a situation, really - I mean when you think about it.
That's reason number 1 to make your bed in the morning. The other billion reasons all lead to happiness.
According to a study by Hunch.com only 27% of people make their bed. Which is too bad because
70% of people who make their beds consider themselves to be happy.
Happiness expert, Gretchen Rubin; The Power of Habit author Charles Duhigg; and US Navy Admiral William H. McRaven all believe in the POWER of making your bed.
Gretchen Rubin says making your bed is also one of the most effective and easiest triggers of happiness.
Charles Duhigg describes making your bed every morning as a "keystone habit". A way to kick start a pattern of good behaviour for the rest of the your day, week, month, life.
But most impressive is US Navy Admiral William H. McRaven's commencement speech. Here's just a little bit of it ...
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Sarah
People make their beds? Are you kidding me?!
I have not made a bed - other than for an impending guest - in probably 40 years (since I was 10 and my mother said I should).
And I never plan to start.
And I think I'm pretty happy.
In part because I don't have to do a pointless chore RIGHT when I wake up!
whitequeen96
Hear, hear!
Marie-Claude
Amen to that! Perfectly happy to have a perfectly unmade bed every day!
Nicole
Yep, it's super arbitrary! I think if I lived in a studio apartment where my bed was in the living room, I would, but that's about the only time. That being said, I do make sure the comforter is pulled up because the cats, if they're going to barf, seem to love to target the bed and it's easier to clean the comforter than the mattress (gross!).
Aunty Em
Nicole...I too am a defensive bed maker. It has naught to do with happiness and everything to do with a cat's uncanny ability to eject a hairball directly onto your freshly laundered comforter. ;-)
That said, this is a very interesting topic, and I love the admiral's words on motivation, Thanks Karen!
Rose
I love that speech! I do "make" my bed which consists of simply flipping the comforter up and giving a tug to smooth it out. I'm happy. One task completed, but the momentum to continue completing tasks fizzles out by the time I get downstairs.
I too face your conundrum. I'm a nightowl and don't like to go to bed, but I also will lay awake in bed as long as I can in the morning because it's too comfy to get out. I do my best plotting then. And because it's so easy to make my bed, I don't have a problem jumping back in on a cold morning after it's 'made'. The rack monster sucks you back in.
Yvonne Brockenborough
Rose, you have described me quite accurately: quickly pulling all the covers up to the head and straightening the wrinkles with spread up and over pillows. But first I have to get out of bed - hate to go to bed, I too am a night owl, then don't want to get up in morning, but do lay thinking of many things, some of my best thinking times - this also happens at bedtime in bed because, unless very, very tired I get some of my best thinking done.
Now, if bed is very messy in morning I tend to just leave it because I am running late for something. It is depressing though to see an unmade bed, and I always feel good about accomplishing upon arising - room looks ever so much better.
Walk in, see messy bed, feel depressed that I couldn't do such a simple thing after getting up. : (
Vow to do better next day. :))
Bronwyn
I do make my bed every day, and I consider myself to be happy. Bear in mind this study will be skewed as the responses will be from, in the most part, intelligent, good looking people.
Ritz
Funny!
yyz
Since leaving the parent's nest several decades ago, I have NEVER, EVER made my bed! It's just going to get messed up again the next time I use it.
Also, I'm generally a malcontent, prone to mid-day naps and proud of it!
So, maybe there is a correlation :)
Chris
Yes - made every day. Yes - happy too.
Idaho Girl
Yes, I make my bed and definitely consider myself to be happy. I do like to do my own turn down service in the early evening, so that when I actually go to bed it's all ready and waiting for me.
Karen
I do that too, lol! ~ karen
Shawna
My husband and I have a rule-last one out has to make the bed. He makes the bed 98% of the time (I make the rules:).
Debbie from Illinois
Yes, my husband makes the bed everyday. 😀
Lynda Loy
Nope I don't make my bed every morning and I'm not as happy as I used to be. Hmm....this needs looking into.
Marianne
Yup, I'm reasonably happy and I make my bed every day, with allowances on occasion when one of the cats is curled up in a particularly adorable way, in which case I make the bed around him. There's some law about disturbing sleeping cats, right?
Bed-making allows me to have at least one accomplishment for the day (sometimes the only one). Selfishly motivated, I love crawling into a warm and cozy bed at night, so fluffy duvet and pillows are arranged, bed is first preheated by my mattress pad, and then when I get into bed, I turn it to the frigid cold setting to keep my wacky post-menopausal body from overheating during the night. Perf!
Ian Anderson
And this leads nicely to a future post Karen.....
Get into a cold bed or a warm one?
I love our electric blanket and sliding into a lovely warm bed delights me...
p.s. I just thought, this might just be because we are nudies though...
Cussot
We'd have to have a mattress pad that goes from hot to ice-cube on one side and from ice-cube to hot on the other. I suppose they sell those, don't they? Oh, and some kind of thermal barrier in between would be nice. Perhaps I'm describing twin beds.
Susan
I LOVE my heated mattress pad (way better than an electric blanket, in my opinion) and it definitely has 2 separate zones for each sleeper. I’ve got the hot tub side, but I can stretch into the pool side if I get a bit warm. :) the heated mattress pad is what actually gets me into bed at night in winter.
Renee Ryz
I am so glad to know I am not the only one who makes the bed around a cat or two! They are way to cute to disturb, especially when they open one sleepy eye to look at you from their comfiness.
Rachel Herr
I make my bed every day. I’m incapable of going to sleep in an unmade bed. I agree that it starts your day on the right foot
Catherine Porche
Yup! I make the bed and the dogs wait until I'm done to sprawl on it! I'm pretty happy. I definitely climb back in if it's unmade....
Meg
Occasionally, I have my shit together and I try to maintain a neatly made bed for myself. I want to be this person more. Often I have so many things I want to run and go do -and I'm a spaz- so I run and do them, basically forgetting entirely that I have a bed at all.
However, true to the broken windows theory of tough urban buildings, the rest of my room starts to deteriorate if I allow this too long. Socks start accumulating on the floor, then a pair of jeans might get tossed at the end of the bed... until I get sick of the chaos and loop back to a state of freshly laundered, neatly made bedding and vow to not do that to myself again.
I'm not 100% sure how to break the cycle, alas. I currently have an unmade bed but a no-laundry-on-the-floor policy I've managed to keep rolling. Maybe I'll try to start again with a made bed tomorrow, see how long I can hold it!
Julie Cavallaro
Meg, you and I are on the same page. I want to be that person tho makes the bed every day but like you consider it a victory if I don’t have a weeks worth of clothes piled on a chair. I’m working on it!
Waking up to this question from Karen I quickly put my phone down, put all the random clothes away and made my bed!
Huguette
same page too!
Lori Jones
Me three! I am not sure anyone else counts how I make my bed “A made bed” but I do. I throw/straighten the sheets and quilts, and call it made. I am not a,”make it look like a magazine ad bed” type person. But I do wish I could.
Meg
haha! all you folks in my same boat.
and the other part- am I happy? I consider myself pretty happy generally and I am fairly successful in life. I feel I could be happier if the house were tidier. *goes to make bed that she once again accidentally fled from, this morning*
Inger
I took the chair out to see if it helps me keep out the clutter and replaced it with a plant on a stand. The plants wouldn't like my clothes thrown on top of it very much and so I try to respect its feelings. Two weeks in, so far so good.
Theresa Hartman
Hiya Karen,
I make my bed every.single.day. I consider myself happy, make a nice income and I'm extremely superstitious. Therefore I believe if I don't make my bed, a calamity will befall me or my loved ones. Preventing a calamity is the best reason to make the bed, thereby ensuring happiness and wealth. Weird, but works for me! P.s. I never miss your posts and share them generously!
Karen
Well, I mean preventing calamity is the obvious reason to make your bed, but I figured that was so obvious I didn't need to mention it. ;) ~ karen!
Ella
Forgot to say...l am a very happy person.... when it’s not frigging negative eleventy million degrees celsius out.... LOL
p
eleventy million LOL LOL :D funny you mentioned the number of dollars I need
Bev out west
Yes.
Happy out west.
Ella
I make my bed every morning. I just love the look of it when it’s made with all the pillows in place and the duvet shaken out and folded just so.
Then the dog hops up and makes himself at home ....LOL
carswell
LOL. In my case it is the cat, but she just puts a small divot in the fluffy duvet. Still ...
But yeah, I make my bed because I love the way it looks and because of that it gives me added incentive to keep the rest of the room tidy.
Cheapdiva
Ditto🥴
Brenda
Yes, I do make my bed, AND my husband and I sleep in the nude...we're very happy people.
Elizabeth
Whew. Thought we were the only ones (to both criteria).
Dave
1. Make the bed? Check
2. Sleep in the nude? Check
3. Make the bed while nude? Check
4. Happy? You bet!
Laurie
Another happy naked sleeping bed maker reporting!
Sigi
Here here! (Or is it Hear Hear!?)
I too make the bed, sleep in the nude and consider myself lucky and happy!!
Denise
I'm with Sigi!
Raymonde
I do make my bed. Every day. I also change my bedroom decor with the seasons and, yes, I'm happy! 😊
Wendy Thomson
Yes, I make my bed. It was my mother's number one rule...so my bed is made even before I have my first cup of coffee.