Is Working, Eating, and Studying in the Bedroom Bad for Sleep?

Do you ever find yourself staying up late to study or finish assignments? Does your late night takeaway and Netflix session find it’s home in your bedroom? Unfortunately, we may be sabotaging our sleep without even realising it. The effects of working, eating, and studying in your bedroom could be causing irreversible damage to your sleep schedule.

Your bedroom should be a sanctuary for relaxation, sleep, and intimate time spent with your partner. When we are working, eating, and studying in our bedrooms, we create an association between this space and being in a more active lifestyle. It is easy to understand then why, when it comes to sleep, our bodies start to feel wide awake instead of tired.

Symptoms such as insomnia and fatigue can arise from the habit of working, eating, and studying in the bedroom. It’s not hard to imagine why, when our brains are already associating the bedroom to activity – when trying to fall asleep our brains become overwhelmed and energised. Reeling back the curtains and opening all the windows can help to mentally and physically reset the feeling and associations within the bedroom.

On top of other mental associations that can occur, those with electronic devices in their bedroom might find they struggle with turning the lights off and settling into sleep. With the electromagnetic field that smartphones and laptops produce, our bodies become confused as to when it’s time to sleep and wake up. Not allowing our bodies natural melatonin production to work properly can disrupt our precious sleep cycle. Similarly, having food in your bedroom could stop us from digesting properly, meaning the body will be too energised to restful sleep.

Creating a focused and calming space is vital, and physically removing activities and devices can help with this task. Even if it’s just while you are trying to catch some quality shut-eye, cutting out work, studies, and food from your bedroom can literally change your life!

Cultivating a routine and making lifestyle changes to support sleep is something we should all be aware of and aim to do. Ensuring that any blue light and electromagnetic radiation associated with phones and laptops isn’t in the bedroom should be a priority and will help us to get a deeper and more restful sleep.

If heading to bed feels like a battle between energised brain and fatigued body, think about what you can take away from the bedroom. Making sure that our bedroom is a designated space for pure relaxation and sleep is the key to stepping into some seriously sweet slumber.