Save Your Bed for Rest & Romance; Say No to Work and TV

When was the last time you snuggled up in your bed just for the sake of it? We all lead hectic lives with long work hours, household chores, and strangers in the form of TV, which we let into our bedrooms to take up our precious time. However, research shows that limiting activities to only rest and romance can have numerous benefits in our daily lives. Let’s delve deeper into why it’s imperative to save your bed for rest and romance and say no to work and TV.

Rest Benefits:

Sleep is vital for our mental and physical health. However, our bed should be reserved for more than just sleeping; it should also be a place where we can restfully relax. Let’s take a look at some of the benefits of rest for your overall wellness:

1. Reduced Stress:
   Stress levels have been on an all-time high, especially with the pandemic and its effects on our day-to-day activities. Taking the time to rest can help alleviate stress levels and improve your overall mental health. When your stress levels decrease, you’re less likely to feel anxious and have better quality sleep.
2. Mental Clarity:
   When you save your bed for rest, you allow your mind to focus on rejuvenating and resting your body and mind, which can help you feel mentally clear. Mental clarity can help sharpen your cognition, creativity, and productivity, and can increase problem-solving skills.
3. Reduced Risk of Obesity:
   Good-quality sleep positively impacts hunger hormones, which regulate your appetite and energy levels throughout the day. When you sleep less, your hunger hormone levels increase, leading to a higher chance of obesity and chronic diseases like diabetes.
4. Improved Mood and Emotional Stability:
   By resting well, you’re more likely to maintain a better mood, decrease irritability, and have greater emotional stability, further resulting in improved relationships with family and colleagues.

Romance Benefits:

Although the bed is an excellent place to rest, it is equally important to reserve it for intimacy with your partner. Let’s take a look at some of the benefits of intimacy for your relationship and overall health:

1. Better Relationships:
   Intimacy promotes better communication, empathy, and overall improved relationships with your partner. It helps bond both partners emotionally and physically, leading to a deeper sense of trust and a stronger relationship foundation.
2. Improved Mental Health:
   Intimacy with your partner can lead to a significant boost in endorphins known as “feel-good hormones.” Endorphins help improve overall mood and mental health, resulting in less stress and improved happiness.
3. Health benefits:
   Intimacy helps improve physical health, including better sleep, stronger immune systems, and reduced chronic pain. These benefits come from the release of endorphins, oxytocin, and other hormones that lower stress levels by promoting positive mood, relaxation, and alleviating pain.

Work and TV Detrimental Effects for Your Bedroom:

Bringing work and TV into the bedroom can have significant detrimental effects on your overall wellbeing. Here’s why:

1. Increased Stress and Poor Sleep Quality:
   Bringing work into the bedroom can cause people to think about jobs, tasks, and deadlines creating stress; this stressor is not conducive while trying to fall asleep. The blue light from screens adversely affects melatonin levels leading to insomnia and therefore risks depression.
2. Damaged Relationships:
   When TV replaces intimacy, it hurts a couple’s emotional connection and overall intimacy, leading to hurt feelings, overall disagreements, and even separation.
3. Diminished Productivity:
   Working in bed can hinder productivity by creating an association with the bedroom as a workspace. It can take away the bed’s restorative qualities as it becomes an office-like area where our minds are always “switched-on”.
4. Encourages Unhealthy Eating Habits:
   Studies have shown that people who eat while they watch TV have a higher likelihood of eating unhealthy foods leading to health issues such as obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.

Ways to Save Your Bed for Rest and Romance:

Now that we understand why avoiding work and TV in your bedroom is essential, let’s take a look at some ways to ensure that your bed is reserved specifically for rest and romance.

1. Establish A Bedroom Routine:
   Having a routine that includes relaxation activities like reading, meditation, or gentle stretching without looking at digital devices helps train the brain to associate bed with rest.
2. Make Bedrooms Television-Free Zones:
   The bedroom should only be reserved for rest, relaxation, and intimacy. When TV is present, it becomes a distraction from connecting with your partner, and blue backlighting can regularly disrupt melatonin secretion, leading to sleep deprivation and subsequent health issues.
3. Prioritize Work areas in Office Spaces:
   Designating a work area in your home where your bedroom is solely reserved for rest and relaxation gives you ample time to focus on your work. Create a workspace that encourages productivity with a desk, office chair, and natural light to increase creativity.
4. Limit Technology Usage:
   Limit technology usage before bedtime. It is essential to reduce screen time before going to bed to give your brain time to relax and process the day’s events to begin resting.
5. Softness and Serenity:
   Benefits of soft sheets, a cozy comforter, and lots of pillows that help create an inviting atmosphere that you want to curl up in; and avoid placing work-related items around the bed to maintain the room’s serenity.

Conclusion:

There exist tangible benefits when we create a no-work and TV environment in our bedrooms, especially in today’s technological era. Instead of using our beds as a catch-all for everything, our bedrooms should be reserved for rest and romance only. By implementing the above ways, we can create a sanctuary for relaxation and intimacy, enabling us to be happier, healthier, and more productive in our daily lives. Let’s start treating our bedrooms as more than just a place to sleep- let’s make our beds a vehicle for overall wellness in everything we do.