Having a great morning routine in place can really help destress the rest of your day. If you’re rushing around in the morning, don’t get a good breakfast, and forget things you’re going to need for the day, you’ll probably experience greater stress than you need to. But if you have a good, healthy breakfast, do some yoga, and take time to run through the things you need to do that day and make sure you have everything, you’ll set yourself up for a less stressful day.
There’s one easy and fast thing you can add to your morning routine that you won’t find on many suggestion lists: make your bed.
How Does Making Your Bed Reduce Your Daily Stress?
When you make your bed in the morning, you are decluttering. Clutter is stressful to human brains. When your space is disorganized or filled with excess stuff, your brain is constantly trying to make sense of it and mentally organize it.
Decreasing the clutter around you automatically reduces stress and anxiety levels and helps you deal with things that occur throughout your day better. The act of making your bed in the morning, while simple, sets an expectation that you will be organized throughout the day. Once the bed is made, your brain will say, “Ah, that’s better,” and you will automatically continue to tidy things up as you go.
Additionally, accomplishing a task like making your bed first thing in the morning gives you a feeling of success right away. You’ve done something productive already! Doing this one tiny chore in the morning can set the tone for the rest of your day to be full of bigger accomplishments.
Making your bed in the morning doesn’t only help your mood at the beginning of the day. When you arrive back home and get ready for bed, a made bed looks inviting and calm. It can help your mind relax and get ready for a great night’s sleep.