There are few issues I like extra on this world than doing nada. This may have shocked faculty me: My calendar was booked each single day with plans starting from examine classes to dinner reservations to drunken weekend shenanigans. However now, after years of spending practically each waking second with classmates, mates, members of the family, or coworkers, I really recognize the privilege of leaping into my cozy window-side mattress, ignoring every little thing and everybody round me, and simply scrolling by TikTok or looking Zara’s newest types. In different phrases, doing stuff that’s completely meaningless—or is it?

The web is now calling my favourite little self-care ritual “mattress rotting,” which is outlined, typically talking, as losing away beneath your cozy comforter for just a few hours and being deliberately unproductive, maybe with some bedside snacks (so that you don’t must stand up) and the subsequent episode of The Summer time I Turned Fairly streaming within the background. The time period is pretty new on TikTok (and viral, too, with greater than 2 billion views of movies that includes individuals munching away, watching YouTube movies on repeat, or just scrolling by Instagram from the consolation of their beds).

The final idea of getting a “lazy” day each occasionally, nevertheless, isn’t revolutionary. So why, then, is my treasured me-time follow (doing completely nothing in mattress) instantly being framed as one thing that’s inherently unhealthy or worrisome? As an illustration, headlines have described this “phenomenon” as “the poisonous aspect of self-care” that warrants “warnings.”

To be truthful, there’s some legitimate criticism of spending an excessive amount of time hiding out beneath the covers: It may be regarding, for instance, if you happen to’re struggling to operate in your each day life otherwise you’re sleeping so much as a method of escaping deeper feelings, which may sign psychological well being troubles. In that case—say, you’re not excited about doing a lot of something otherwise you constantly really feel drained all day—“mattress rotting” could possibly be a signal of despair that warrants speaking to knowledgeable, like a therapist.

For probably the most half, although, doing nothing every now and then isn’t a harmful well being danger. Actually, making individuals really feel “lazy” or in any other case lower than for giving themselves a break is a fairly insidious message, and that’s very true contemplating the hell of a time we’re having as a rustic: We’re dealing with life throughout a world pandemic, sky-high inflation is making every little thing so costly, and let’s not neglect we’re in the course of what’s doubtless the most popular summer season on document.

Biologically talking, “we aren’t designed to go, go, go,” Bonnie Zucker, PsyD, creator of A Perfectionist’s Information to Not Being Good, beforehand defined to SELF. “Our nature is to not have a nonstop 12-hour workday and a six-hour sleep cycle. That’s actually going in opposition to what our organic wants name for, which is satisfactory downtime.” I imply, give it some thought: There’s a cause that relaxation is the answer for something that wears your physique down, from the widespread chilly to job burnout. “It isn’t simply your muscular tissues that do work,” Jaime Seltzer, director of scientific and medical outreach at myalgic encephalomyelitis advocacy group #MEAction, advised SELF final December. “Your entire organ methods do work, and your mind and your coronary heart are likely to demand so much. So even if you happen to’re pondering very laborious, you’re undoubtedly doing work.”