Surprising Side Effects Of Lying In Bed Too Much

The CDC recommends at least 7 hours of sleep per night for American adults (i.e. just under one-third of every day). In fact, the average American is sleeping slightly less than that, according to the most recent Gallup Poll on the topic (2013). Yet, as it turns out, the average American spends up to half their life in bed, as a survey conducted by OnePoll on behalf of Slumber Cloud several years ago revealed (via SWNS Digital). And for the avoidance of doubt, by "lying in bed," we mean not only the time that we spend in bed sleeping, but also the time that we spend in bed not sleeping. That includes relaxing, watching television, eating (whether breakfast or otherwise), feeding a baby, writing in a journal, engaging in sexual activity, recovering from flu, following a doctor's bed-rest orders, and so on. 

Does this mean Americans are spending too much time lying in bed? That depends upon your definition of "too much." According to UNC Health Talk and Healthline, for optimal sleep hygiene, it's best to limit the use of one's bed to sleep and sex. Accordingly, if you're spending a lot of time lying in bed outside of those activities, then it could be too much. And that is associated with a number of negative physical and mental health consequences — or in the case of those for whom bed rest is medically required, side effects, according to the National Library of Medicine archives.

If you're spending too much time lying in bed, then you not be spending enough time moving around and burning calories. And as much as people seem to enjoy debating whether weight loss is, in fact, the result of fewer calories consumed than calories burned, the notion of "calories in, calories out" is well-established scientific fact, according to Precision Nutrition. According to the medical professionals at Urology of Virginia, to the extent that the time that you're spending lying in bed is standing in for time that you would otherwise be spending engaged in the sort of day-to-day physical activities that are normal for you (and for which your eating habits ideally account for), you're going to store the excess energy as fat, which can lead to weight gain. 

Spending too much time in bed can also lead to weight gain by interfering with what's considered normal sleep hygiene, according to Healthline and many others who advise using your bed only for sleep and sex. Just as good sleep habits can lead to good sleep (via CDC), problematic sleep habits — like making your bed your workspace on your remote workdays, for example — can lead to troubled sleep. And troubled sleep may leave you feeling hungrier, even if your energy requirements have not increased, according to Scientific American. Conversely, getting enough sleep may actually reduce cravings during the daytime hours. 

"In my experience, limiting the amount of time spent in bed is one of the most effective techniques insomniacs can use to improve their sleep," said insomnia coach Martin Reed, writing for Health Central in 2018. A groundbreaking 2020 study published by the Sleep Research Society confirms that Reed's advice was spot on, which is to say that if you have insomnia, you might want to look into how much time you're spending in bed outside of sleeping (and sex). 

For the 2020 study, the researchers were already aware that restricting sleep-time is an effective treatment for insomnia. What they wanted to find out was why. To wit, they had a hunch that restricting sleep works because it tends to reduce the amount of time spent in bed. To test that hypothesis, the researchers randomized 56 insomnia sufferers into one of two groups. 

Insomnia in the first group was treated with "sleep restriction therapy," for which restricting the amount of time actually spent in bed is fundamental. For the second group, insomnia was treated with "time in bed regularization," in which reduced time in bed is prescribed, but with no associated restrictions. As it turned out, the researchers' hypothesis was spot on, which is to say that restricting time spent in bed reduced the severity of insomnia symptoms. 

It should be somewhat clear by now that spending too much time lying in bed can create a number of health issues, many of which relate in some way to one's size. In keeping with that theme, but upping the ante slightly, it seems that too much lying in bed can actually alter your body fat ratio — for the worse. According to Dr. Douglas Paddon-Jones, a professor at University of Texas Medical Branch, "when a person is restricted to bed rest, even for a few days, they typically lose muscle and gain fat." 

Moreover, traditional dietary changes hadn't proven to be useful in offsetting this phenomenon. "Simply eating more food and protein may help protect muscle but will likely increase body fat," Dr. Paddon-Jones explained. "Conversely, eating less food may help avoid fat gain, but will accelerate muscle loss." To find a way around this for those who are actually confined to their beds, Dr. Paddon-Jones and a team of researchers explored whether different forms of protein might be beneficial for a 2019 study published in Journals of Gerontology. 

Studying volunteers willing to undergo seven days of bed rest in the interest of science, the researchers found that those who consumed their protein exclusively in the form of whey kept more of their muscle mass, and actually lost some body fat. They also recovered their strength more quickly after the bed rest study period was completed. 

Hopefully, none of us will never have to be on bed rest. However, scientists study the effects of bed rest on people, both sick and healthy, partly because doing so may offer some glimpse at the cumulative effects of inactivity. And one of those cumulative effects is a decline in cardiovascular health. While you aren't exponentially increasing your risk of heart attack if you enjoy the occasional lazy day spent lolling around under the duvet, the fact is that spending too much time in bed isn't doing any favors for your heart and respiratory system, according to a 2014 study published in the European Journal of Epidemiology.

What the researchers discovered is that those who were determined to have spent the least amount of time lying around in bed were less likely to have died from cardiovascular disease than the others over a 12-year period. Those who spent what the authors deemed "excessive hours lying down per day" were statistically much more likely to do so — even among those who were otherwise physically active. Moreover, this particular study may be viewed as quite persuasive because it followed more than 39,000 adults, ages 20-70, participating in the Trøndelag Health Study, which compiled questionnaire data with subject health records. On the other hand, it only included Norwegian nationals and relied upon subjectively reported data. 

Spending too much time lying in bed can cause pneumonia, albeit only to the extent that it involves lying in one position for an extended period — especially on one's back, which may allow germs to settle in the lungs along with mucous and other secretions (via the Cleveland Clinic). Pneumonia is an infection that causes the air sacs in the lungs to become inflamed, as a result of which they may fill with pus and other fluids (via the American Lung Association). This sort of inflammation and related congestion can cause a number of symptoms, but most notably, fever, chills, coughing and shortness of breath. At its most serious, pneumonia may cause acute respiratory distress, and in some cases, death. 

That being said, those at the highest risk for pneumonia include the elderly (those over age 65), the very young (under age 2), those with autoimmune conditions, and those with health conditions that affect the lungs (e.g., asthma, emphysema, and COPD). Also at an elevated risk are smokers and those with diabetes, according to a 2021 study published in the American Journal of Translational Research, which notes that the longer one spends lying in bed, the greater one's risk of pneumonia will be.