Categories: Lifestyle

The bedroom – Much More Than a Place to Sleep For Modern Brits

A bedroom is predominantly a place to rest your head after a long day at work and get some good quality sleep, yet increasingly it is becoming a room with a multitude of purposes.

In the last seven days alone my bed has served as a cinema, a dining room table and an office, and whilst there are many other rooms in the house that I could have done these things in my bedroom is comfortable and to be honest I spent a lot of money making it a room I wanted to hang out in.

In the modern world a lot of people are flat sharing which means we can’t spread our belongings out through the house as much as we may like and the bedroom becomes a focal point as a consequence. I’m 25, but the future is just as bleak. Between 2009 and 2014, the number of flat sharers aged between 35 and 44 rose by 186 per cent, according to Spareroom.

Let’s face it, London ain’t cheap. You are lucky to fit a double bed in a room and still have space to stand in. I don’t know anyone here with a dining room, in fact you are considered to be doing outstandingly well for yourself if you have a living room. This means savvy Londoners care less about the traditional purposes of specific rooms and have to make do with what they have. So long as rent prises continue to rise in the capital the ambiguity of a rooms purpose will continue to grow.

However, a new report has suggested this might not be in the best interest. A poll of 15,000 adults by Dreams found that the average adult will spend an hour and 30 minutes lying awake on three nights each week – a total of four-and-a-half hours a week. When looking in to why Brits struggle to sleep the research found that what we are letting in to our bedrooms may be leading to our sleeping struggle.

Shockingly some disagreeable people are sharing the sheets with pet hair and old cigarette smoke. Brits also appear to be lacking in the hygiene department as one in four admit they can go three weeks or more without washing their sheets. – To be honest these people don’t deserve a good night’s sleep.

I’m certainly someone who does get a good night’s sleep- despite my girlfriend being an insomniac who likes to wake me up on occasion. But even with a good night’s sleep I do often still feel tiered in the day. After reading the report I’m going to try and limit the multipurpose I use my bed for and make it singularly a place to sleep.

If you yourself find you aren’t having the best night’s sleep take a look at these 20 causes of a bad night’s sleep:

Top 20 reasons for having a disturbed night’s sleep:

1. You’re too hot
2. Stress
3. You struggle to get comfortable
4. Worries about money
5. Your partner is snoring
6. You are nervous about something you have to do the next day
7. Health issues
8. You’re not tired
9. Worries about your relationship/family
10. You’re too cold
11. You often have bad dreams or night terrors
12. Worries about work
13. You hear noises during the night
14. Young children keep you awake
15. Your partner fidgets a lot
16. You spend too long looking at your phone/tablet before bed
17. You’re too excited about something to sleep
18. Your bed isn’t very comfortable
19. You’ve eaten too late
20. You’ve had too much caffeine

Lewis Oakley

Lewis Oakley is a 24 year old writer based in London. With a focus on lifestyle he has written for Metro UK, Huffington Post and other sites. Lewis has covered topics from Brexit to the decisions made by the NHS. Lewis is also a prominent voice in the LGBT Conversation writes many pieces challenging stigma and pushing for better understanding.

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