{"id":5196,"date":"2025-02-12T10:00:08","date_gmt":"2025-02-12T10:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/?p=5196"},"modified":"2025-02-03T21:45:52","modified_gmt":"2025-02-03T21:45:52","slug":"the-bed-rotting-epidemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/opine\/2025\/02\/12\/the-bed-rotting-epidemic\/","title":{"rendered":"The ‘bed rotting’ epidemic"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the winter months roll in and heating bills increase, I find myself spending more and more hours in bed to stay warm. <\/span>Embarrassed as I am to admit it, some days I spend more time in bed than out of it<\/span>. After working late, I often wake up at noon, missing out on several of the precious few hours of sunlight we get in the Aberdeen winter. It seems then that the day has gone to waste; and as the sun sets just after 4pm it feels like night again and I am already exhausted. I know I am not alone in this feeling and I hope writing about it will resonate with others.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The term \u2018bed rotting\u2019 comes from social media in which users describe staying in bed all day, often scrolling on social media and watching TV. Some users describe bed rotting as self-care, a means of relaxing when the world feels overwhelming. And sometimes it can be; when I am sick or hungover, lying in bed with ice cream and a boxset is perhaps one of life\u2019s greatest luxuries. Bed rotting as a singular event, one day of recovery, is unproblematic \u2014 the worry is that it becomes habitual, reflecting somewhat of a lifestyle.<\/span><\/p>\n

We all have our coping mechanisms and I personally need time alone after a shift at work or an all-dayer at the library. But what constitutes a healthy coping mechanism versus an unhealthy one? My take would be that if bed rotting is intentional, a few hours or a day set out to purposefully unwind that this is perfectly \u2018healthy\u2019. However, when we find ourselves trapped, wanting to get out of bed and do things but mentally unable to find the motivation or energy to do so, this is where it becomes a problem.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Covid-19 lockdowns were the first time many of us found ourselves with excessive free time and little to do with it. Staying in bed for most of the day was normalised, leaving only a short walk. Yet the bed rotting \u2018trend\u2019 has outlasted the peak of the Covid pandemic and many young people still find themselves spending hours upon hours in bed. So why is this, and why some days, it does not just feel tough to get out of bed, but near enough impossible?<\/span><\/p>\n

Bed rotting does seem to be most common amongst young people and students, perhaps because our studies are often very much self-led or because of the binge drinking cycles many of us find ourselves in. Bed rotting is a means of escapism, of avoiding responsibilities and scrolling in peace. Despite spending all day on social media, when in bed, rotting, I find it very difficult to reply to messages. Social media and mobile phones mean that social responsibilities invade our private spaces and time alone. The burden of response is upon us at all times and it is exhausting \u2014 group chats, emails, texts, all waiting for our reply. Of course, there is not anything stopping me from placing my phone on \u2018do not disturb\u2019, as I almost always do, but this just means more to come back to later. Constantly having to be available in this way undoubtedly places extra mental load on us, even when we are too tired to reply. Thus, I find myself trapped in bed, too shattered to do anything about the piling notifications.<\/span><\/p>\n

What is more concerning to me, however, is the way we talk about bed rotting. This is not a trend, but a symptom of a larger problem. <\/span>So many young adults, supposedly in the prime of their lives, should not be so burnt out that it becomes a mental struggle to leave the security of their sheets<\/span>. Spending so much time on our phones, scrolling, means that we can find ourselves spending more time watching other people\u2019s lives than living our own. Consuming hours upon hours of content which shows the best seconds of someone\u2019s day, is damaging to our mental health. It is so difficult not to compare ourselves to the people directly around us already, even harder to not compare ourselves to the seemingly perfect lives of influencers or other social media users.<\/span><\/p>\n

At this young age, there can be a lot of pressure to already have our lives mapped out. And, as someone studying a social science degree with virtually no job prospects on the horizon, it is sometimes important to remember that we are still so young and there is no need to have it all figured out already. It is important to have goals and aspirations, but we do not need to have the perfect job lined up at graduation, just because it appears to be what everyone else is doing.<\/span><\/p>\n

I think, unfortunately, that for me the solution to ending my bed rotting habit is simply to get off my phone. This is not to say I believe this is the solution for everyone, because of course, underlying health conditions mean this is not so easy for many people. But, for me, spending more time in the real world will probably have a positive effect.<\/span><\/p>\n

Spending time in bed rejuvenating is not a bad thing, but I think we need to be mindful about how we do it and how much of our time it eats up. If I am truly exhausted, will watching a few hours\u2019 worth of Instagram reels, really make me feel any better afterwards? Cosying up to watch a movie I have been looking forward to or finishing a book that has been sitting on my shelf feels like a more beneficial way to relax. I, of course, am not giving up bed rotting for good (because it definitely is not that straightforward), but I will be trying to slow down and consider what kind of media I consume and how I consume it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The brain is much like the stomach in that some sugar is exciting and enjoyable, but too much of it and we leave ourselves feeling sick. I will always use social media and I am never saying goodbye to a lazy morning in bed, but I want to commit to spending that time in bed in more meaningful ways. I hope that these words resonate with you if you too feel embarrassed with your addiction to your phone and your duvet. It is okay to rot in bed sometimes but I think it is time (at least for me) to rethink how we frame it as self-care and consider the harm we cause ourselves when we spend so much time on our phones. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the winter months roll in and heating bills increase, I find myself spending more and more hours in bed to stay warm. Embarrassed as I am to admit it, some days I spend more time in bed than out of it. After working late, I often wake up at noon, missing out on several […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":5197,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","iawp_total_views":50,"footnotes":""},"categories":[84],"tags":[1035,1032,297,1034,1033,490,484,567],"wf_post_folders":[337],"class_list":{"0":"post-5196","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-opine","8":"tag-bed-rotting","9":"tag-burnout","10":"tag-mental-health","11":"tag-screen-time","12":"tag-self-care","13":"tag-social-media","14":"tag-student-life","15":"tag-tiktok"},"acf":[],"author_meta":{"display_name":"Eilidh McCartney","author_link":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/author\/eilidhmccartney\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/pexels-cottonbro-7351144-300x200.jpg","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["Opine<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Opine<\/span>"]},"tags":{"linked":["bed rotting<\/a>","burnout<\/a>","Mental Health<\/a>","screen time<\/a>","self care<\/a>","social media<\/a>","student life<\/a>","TikTok<\/a>"],"unlinked":["bed rotting<\/span>","burnout<\/span>","Mental Health<\/span>","screen time<\/span>","self care<\/span>","social media<\/span>","student life<\/span>","TikTok<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":"0","relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 1 year ago","modified":"Updated 2 years ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on 12 February 2025","modified":"Updated on 3 February 2025"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on 12 February 2025 10:00","modified":"Updated on 3 February 2025 21:45"},"featured_img_caption":"Photo by cottonbro studio via pexels","series_order":"","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5196"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5196\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5199,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5196\/revisions\/5199"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5196"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=5196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}