A sense of accomplishment

It may seem hard to imagine how making your bed can have a significant impact on the rest of your day. But this concept has been around for a long time, and for good reason. The idea is that completing this small task has various potential benefits including a sense of achievement, enhanced organisation, improved focus and reduced stress. There’s little more than anecdotal evidence of these positive effects, but there’s certainly no harm in giving it a go. Take retired US Navy SEAL William H. McRaven for example, who found it so impactful that he wrote an entire book titled ‘Make Your Bed’.

Tidy room, tidy mind

Have you ever felt overwhelmed because your surroundings were cluttered or messy? The reason for this is simple; the more that’s going on within our visual field, the more our brains have to register and comprehend. This can make it difficult to feel relaxed, and reducing this clutter (neatly, not just throwing it in a cupboard), can help clear the mind. So, what does this have to do with making your bed every day? The few minutes it takes to make the bed creates a neater environment with fewer stressful distractions so you can go about the rest of your day with one less thing to think about.

Cleanliness

Making your bed every day can have the additional effects of keeping your bed cleaner for your next night’s sleep. It does this by protecting your sheets from all the dust, pet fur and other stuff floating around in the air during the day.

Some people do suggest that making your bed creates an environment for dust mites to thrive in your bed sheets, but health experts have debunked this, saying that keeping the bed unmade won’t make much difference. If this is a concern, however, regular washing will help. 

Nicer to come home to

In the end, many of us simply like to make our beds because it’s nicer to come home to. A poll by the Sleep Foundation even found that respondents who made their beds were able to fall asleep faster and sleep better.

So, while you might want to play it safe and make your bed a bit later in the day, anecdotal evidence has indicated that it does have positive effects on our productivity, mental health and sleep. Why not give it a go?