Burnout is steadily rising worldwide—and people are coping in very different ways. Some deal with their stress and exhaustion by binge-watching Netflix shows, hitting the gym, meditating, or crafting. As for others? They try bed rotting.
The Tiktok trend is (usually) less repulsive than it sounds; it simply involves spending the entire day in bed relaxing, or “rotting away,” as a way to decompress from life’s stressors.
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“In our society, there’s an emphasis on being productive,” says Laurence Chan, instructor of medical psychology at Columbia University. “And bed rotting might be one socially acceptable way to say that you need a time-out and you’re looking to recharge.”
Resting regularly is good for you, but bed rotting for too long or too often can indicate a deeper mental-health issue. “It can be difficult to disentangle what is a self-care day from what is a low or major depression, and when should you seek help?” says Stephanie Preston, a professor of psychology at the University of Michigan.
Moderation is key
If you’re only bed rotting once or twice a month to cope with stress, it’s likely an acceptable form of self-care that isn’t damaging your mental health, Preston says.
But if you find yourself lying in bed multiple days a week, she says, there could be a deeper mental-health issue at play, like anxiety or depression.
Notice whether the activity is impacting your ability to keep up with work, family, or school obligations, as well as whether you’re struggling with basic hygiene. “You’re not showering, you’re not brushing your teeth, you’re not putting on clean clothes—that’s when you might suspect depression,” Preston says.
Bed rotting could also be a coping mechanism for an anxiety disorder, Chan says. Someone with problematic anxiety could be using the self-care trend as a way to avoid certain things in their life. This could “reinforce that it’s safer to avoid the things that we’re avoiding, and then we might believe that we’re not able or capable of handling them,” he says.
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That’s the tricky thing about bed rotting: While it might seem like an effective way to decompress, doing it too often or for too long will only worsen depression or anxiety. “While avoiding stress may feel good in the moment, prolonged avoidance is actually linked with long-term distress and greater dysfunction,” Chan says. This is partially because we’re sedentary when we bed rot, and moving our bodies is essential for both our physical and mental health.
The anxious generation
Many of the bed-rotting TikTok videos are from users in Gen Z, a group that was born between 1997 and 2012. Research has shown that Gen Z is, generally speaking, more anxious than other generations. Countless factors contribute to this increased anxiety, from the years-long COVID-19 pandemic to increasing worry about cost of living and climate change.
“I think that in today’s world, what Gen Z and later generations are facing is very different from their grandparents and parents,” says Dr. Justin Kei, a psychiatrist and medical director for the outpatient behavioral health clinic at Hackensack University Medical Center. “So we should be mindful that there’s probably a reason for [bed rotting].”
The sleep connection
Spending an entire day resting can be restorative. But even if you feel relaxed during a lazy day, you could be setting yourself up for sleep issues that night—and for many nights to come.
“Our nighttime sleep is heavily influenced by our daytime behaviors,” says Joe Dzierzewski, vice president of research and scientific affairs at the National Sleep Foundation. If we spend too much time in bed during the day—even if we’re not strictly sleeping—we’re likely not getting enough bright light, exercise, and nutritious meals at the appropriate time. All of these are “important daytime contributors to healthy sleep,” he says.
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Bed rotting can also have a long-term effect on sleep. When you spend time in bed not sleeping, “the brain makes an association that bed is a place where you stress and worry and watch TV and study and do everything else except sleep,” Kei says. This behavior over extended periods of time, he says, can lead to insomnia.
Some TikTokers who engage in bed rotting record themselves napping throughout the day. Dzierzewski notes that research has shown weekend “catch-up” sleep can actually help us recover from a sleep deficit from the previous week. But it’s important “to limit the extra sleep to one or two hours on non-workdays,” he says.
How to bed rot the right way
Some TikTokers tout the benefits of bed rotting, mentioning how refreshed and recharged they feel afterward. Others say they feel guilty or gross after spending a day or weekend cooped up under the covers. To be clear, there are far healthier ways to spend a day than curled up in bed. But if you’re headed under the covers anyway, consider these tips.
Get up and stretch every few hours. Sitting still for extended periods of time can impact mood, slow digestion, and strain the muscles. Chan recommends setting timers to get up and stretch throughout the day.
Opt for the couch instead. Spending the day in bed can confuse your brain and interfere with nighttime sleep. Because of this, Chan recommends bed rotting on the couch, on a comfy chair, or in a hammock instead.
Call or text a friend. Many bed rotting videos on TikTok show people surfing their phones all day. While social media has its place in our lives, Kei says, “real human connection in day-to-day life is extremely important for maintaining a sense of wellness.” Chat with a friend, or even consider bed rotting with them: Some TikTokers document themselves bed rotting together.
Set limits for yourself. Chan recommends people limit their bed rotting to one or two days in a row while also taking breaks and, if possible, engaging in physical activity throughout the day.
Be mindful of your social-media use. Countless research studies have shown a correlation between social-media use and mental-health issues, Chan says. If social media tends to stress you out, avoid it. But in some cases, surfing Instagram or Reddit could be OK. “While it sounds terrible to stare at your phone for nine hours, I think if your brain is fried, it’s a mindless activity that doesn’t challenge your brain and keeps you entertained,” Preston says. “So it’s not necessarily problematic.”