Even without a TikTok account like most university students my age, I’ve still come into contact with the concept of “bed-rotting.” My first look at bed-rotting came over winter break, having seen a few Instagram reels and Pinterest posts about “rot-girl winter.” Then slowly more and more posts about bed-rotting came to my attention, and my interest was piqued.
Bed-rotting is the term for what is described as a “no thank you to hyperproductivity:” spending extended amounts of time in bed sleeping, scrolling on social media, reading, eating, or even just staring at the ceiling. It is a mostly Gen-Z-propelled mindset about backing up from hustle culture, recuperating from burnout, and recharging your batteries.
Self-care trends are not new phenomena, and social media makes generating and sharing self-care content easy. Bed-rotting has not only been hailed as a valid method of self-care but has also been deemed a self-destructive habit. At the core of the debate is a discussion on the continuous burnout epidemic that affects Gen-Z students and workers alike. In the boss-babe, hustle culture mentality that women in society buy into, burnout is downplayed. Even in my own experience, burnout is seen as something to work through, not a syndrome to recover from.
Those who describe bed-rotting as self-care say that it is a perfectly legitimate response to burnout because it allows the mind, body, and spirit of a person to take a conscious break and recharge. In an interview with SELF Magazine, Bonnie Zucker, PsyD., said, “Our nature is not to have a nonstop 12-hour workday and a six-hour sleep cycle. That’s really going against what our biological needs call for, which is adequate downtime.”
On the other hand, there are those who are averse to bed-rotting because they believe it can lead to a cycle of depression for those who are already mentally and physically vulnerable to illness. A classic burnout symptom is extreme fatigue, and that can lead to being physically unable to move out of bed. Fatigue combined with a lack of interest in life can be symptoms of a greater problem that bed-rotting can feed.
Like with any trend, there are pros and cons to bed-rotting. At the end of the day, I personally find that adequate sun exposure, food and water, and quality sleep help me to feel my best every day. I think bed-rotting has its time and place in terms of allowing yourself to fully disconnect from your school or work life. One downside in my own life that I’ve found when it comes to bed-rotting is that the more you lay in bed and do nothing, the harder it is to practice other forms of self-care, such as taking a walk, cooking a full meal, or participating in a hobby. There are many factors to take into consideration when it comes to bed-rotting, and the choice to participate or not can be left up to the individual.