How do I stop bed rotting?

Bed rotting is a TikTok trend that’s gained popularity among Gen Zers in the past year, “rotting” being a slang term for being beaten down, reduced, or diminished by an event or situation that has negatively affected you. Bed rotting is a self-care routine of sorts, where you stay in bed for extended periods of time—but not to catch up on sleep. This time in bed typically involves passive activities like scrolling through social media or watching videos.

On the surface, bed rotting seems pretty harmless. We all have moments when we just want to lie in bed and do nothing. However, if you “bed rot” fairly often and for prolonged periods, there could be some underlying mental health problems afoot. Keep reading to learn more about bed rotting and its potential link to mental health conditions like depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).

What is bed rotting?

Bed rotting is a trend that’s garnered hundreds of millions of views on TikTok. Since 2023, many TikTokers have shared their “day in the life” videos, in which they film themselves spending several hours in bed—scrolling through their devices, eating comfort foods, watching TV, or simply lying in bed awake. 

Many Gen Zers see bed rotting as a way to relieve burnout from work, school, family obligations, and other responsibilities without the pressure to be productive. 

The bed rotting trend is nothing new—it’s actually just a modern spin on the 200-year-old Scottish term “hurkle-durkle,” which is the ritual of lounging in your bed after it’s time to get up. 

Are there benefits to bed rotting?

So, what can someone gain from bed rotting? According to TikTokers, bed rotting is a form of self-care that can help you:

• Relax and recharge from burnout
• Relieve stress and anxiety
• Improve your mood
• Self-reflect 
• Recover from illness 
• Enjoy passive activities, such as reading, scrolling through social, or watching TV

Since this is a relatively new trend, researchers have not studied bed rotting to identify any potential benefits of this self-care activity. That being said, if you decide to “rot in bed,” it’s really important that you do so with set limits—which we’ll cover in more depth in a later section.

The potential risks of bed rotting

Alongside the supposed benefits, there are some potential downsides to this trend if it’s not done in moderation. These include:

• Avoidance. According to Patrick McGrath, PhD, NOCD’s Chief Clinical Officer, bed rotting could be an avoidance behavior. “Avoidance is a safety behavior,” he explains. “If you’re doing that, you’re avoiding things and staying stuck.” Avoidance could also be a sign of a mental health issue like depression—which we’ll cover in the next section.
• Sleep quality: Your bed should really just be a place for sleeping and sex. So, if you’re spending several hours scrolling through your devices and snacking in bed, you’re telling your brain and body to stay alert—which can cause confusion as to when you should be awake and when you should be asleep. Ultimately, this confusion can cause difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep. 
• Doomscrolling: If you’re doomscrolling (spending too much time consuming negative content), as you bed rot, you could be causing more harm than good to your mental health. If you’re frequently doomscrolling, you could put yourself in a cycle of hopelessness and depression that can feel difficult to escape. In fact, research reveals that spending excessive amounts of time on social media is associated with depression and anxiety. “The scrolling leads you to feel more stressed and creates almost an addiction to that stuff,” says Dr. McGrath. “If everything in your life is based on 10- to 30-second snippets, and that’s all you want to do, then going forward is just, ‘What’s the next thing? What’s the next thing?’” 

When does bed rotting become a sign of a mental health problem?

While bed rotting is not a mental health problem in and of itself, if you’re doing it for prolonged periods, or as a coping mechanism, it could be a symptom of an underlying mental health disorder, says Dr. McGrath. 

Below are mental health conditions that could be linked to bed rotting. 

Depression

Major depressive disorder (MDD), or depression, is a type of mood disorder that causes persistent feelings of sadness and loss of interest in things you once found enjoyable (also known as anhedonia). 

Common symptoms of depression include:

• Difficulty sleeping or excessive sleeping
• Extreme tiredness
• Loss of interest or please in most activities
• Feelings of worthlessness, emptiness, or hopelessness
• Loss of appetite or binge eating
• Brain fog, inability to make decisions, or lack of concentration
• Avoidance coping (avoiding dealing with certain stressors or situations)

According to Dr. McGrath, bed rotting could be a symptom of depression, as the mental health condition can make it hard to get out of bed and cause feelings of overwhelm and exhaustion. “If you lost interest or pleasure in the things you once enjoyed, you’re going to do anything that you can to get the quickest stimulation possible, and that could be scrolling,” he says. “But, it can also lead you to feel more depressed, because what if you see people out partying and having fun and you’re like, ‘Oh, I wish I was those people. I wish I was out having fun.’ So then you might scroll more to try to find something else to feel better.”

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a highly treatable mental health disorder characterized by obsessions and compulsions. Obsessions are intrusive thoughts, images, urges, and/or feelings that cause intense fear and anxiety. As a way to cope with obsessions, you may perform compulsions, which are physical or mental actions that relieve distress or prevent something awful from occurring.

If you have OCD, you might excessively research your condition as a way to better understand it—which could lead to extended periods of inactivity, such as bed rotting. You may think, “‘If I could research other people with OCD, I could learn more about it and get all the answers I need,’” explains Dr. McGrath. However, doing this could be seen as a compulsion that can feed into the OCD, making it worse. “No one’s ever done enough research on OCD to get all the answers, so this could be a trick of OCD saying, ‘Just stay home today. Do this research so you’ll be able to get all the answers, and then this won’t be a problem anymore,’” he says.

It’s important to mention that OCD frequently co-occurs with depression, so it makes sense that both conditions could lead to an unhealthy amount of bed rotting.

 “OCD attacks the things you love, and you have obsessions and compulsions about them,” says Dr. McGrath. “Now you don’t do the things you like because you have obsessions and compulsions about them. The definition of depression is feeling depressed and losing interest or pleasure in the things you once enjoyed. And why did you lose interest in things you once enjoyed? Because now obsessions and compulsions have taken them over.”

Also, if you’re managing OCD but don’t feel that friends and family understand your symptoms, it could lead to feelings of isolation, guilt, and shame, which can contribute to depression. 

How to stop bed rotting

Bed rotting may be a way to cope with feeling burned out or stressed by obligations, but there are some better, more sustainable ways to take care of your mental well-being.

So, instead of “hurkle-durkling,” here are some other methods you can try to get out of bed:

• Set a time limit. Mental health experts recommend completely eliminating screen time during bed. “If you’re going to be in bed, your phone’s not allowed in bed,” says Dr. McGrath. “Create rules for yourself.” However, if you’re not completely ready to give up your “me time” in bed, set a time limit you can abide by. Use your phone’s timer as a cue to switch to another activity to ensure you’re not spending too much time in bed. 
• Practice mindfulness. Mindfulness involves being fully present and aware of your feelings, thoughts, and surroundings. Yoga, meditation, and tai chi are some mindfulness practices you can do to recover from stress and burnout.
• Step out of your house and get some fresh air. Going outdoors can also help reduce stress and relieve burnout. Research suggests that spending time in nature can make you more relaxed and focused. 
• Talk to a loved one. Instead of bed rotting, consider contacting a friend or family member to talk to or hang out with when you feel stressed or burned out. When you feel socially supported, you become more resilient to stress—which could reduce or completely eliminate the need for bed rotting.
• Seek therapy. If you’re bed rotting to cope with depression or difficult feelings, please consider getting professional help. A therapist can work with you to create actionable goals to help you become more active and reduce time spent in bed. 

Exposure and response prevention (ERP) therapy for OCD and depression

If you believe your bed rotting could be related to OCD, there’s help available. Exposure and response prevention (ERP) therapy is an evidence-based treatment that was specifically designed to treat OCD and OCD-related conditions, such as depression. ERP is supported by decades of research to be the most effective therapy for this mental health disorder, with 80% of people who do ERP seeing a significant reduction in their symptoms. 

There are two components to ERP: exposures and response prevention techniques. A typical session will start with a therapist specializing in ERP who will gradually expose you to your triggers. “I want people doing things that are uncomfortable—not seeking things that are comfortable,” says Dr. McGrath. “So, if laying in bed is an avoidance behavior, I need people to go out and do this stuff.”

From there, your therapist will teach you response prevention techniques, which are techniques that help you resist doing compulsions in response to your obsessions. For bed rotting, a therapist may suggest you have an accountability partner, such as a friend or family member, to ensure you’re not staying in bed too long. “Maybe you have to check in with somebody every so often and let them know what you’ve been doing,” says Dr. McGrath.

While change may not happen overnight, if you stick to your sessions and do the therapy homework, you can see a significant change in your symptoms—and hopefully stop bed rotting. 

The bottom line

Self-care is essential for supporting your physical and mental well-being. So, if your mind and body are telling you to rest to recover from stress or burnout, it’s absolutely okay to do so, but in moderation. Spending too much time can signal that there’s a problem. 

If you think you’re dealing with depression, OCD, or a combination, please reach out to a licensed therapist for guidance.