On point three, many find it soothing to tear into something neat and clean. Some get comfort from the act of making something pristine, then get comfort again by surrounding themselves with it right at bedtime. It even helps some sleep.

That said, this is unpopular opinion and it doesn't help you so we understand your based take.

Personally, I like my bed about 80-90% pristine. I don't want to waste a ton of time neatening it up in the morning, and I don't want to have to fight with a fully tucked sheet to get into bed, but I do get a little comfort out of having it be relatively presentable and not having to struggle at 2am to unoragami my bedspread when my feet are cold.

I don't do it because I'm lazy, and I'm just going to pull it apart again in a few hours.

unpopular opinion: beds are overrated, just get a bunch of blankets as a mattress and cover and sleep on the floor.

but also there's a difference between "putting the pillow and cover back into place" and "spending half an hour removing every wrinkle and imperfection". The former is so quick that one might as well do it, the latter feels neurotic

You make the mistake of assuming that someone makes it look nice for someone else and not themselves.

I have 2 dogs, and I’d prefer their shed hair ON the bed, rather than IN the bed.

I have cats, if I don't pull up the covers then I get to sleep with tiny grains of cat litter.

I think y'all have a fundamental misunderstanding of why beds were 'made' in the first place. Tight sheets prevent vermin from slipping between the sheets and waiting until you climb in to experience nightmare fuel. It's a great thing that this doesn't happen often in our first world experience.. but let things slip a little and this becomes a necessity, not a weird habit.

Making your bed, is not the same chore for everyone. Some people have many layers and pillows on a fully accessorized sleeping platform. Yes it would be a chore to do that daily (personal opinion). And some people have a duvet, in a duvet cover on a mattress with a fitted sheet on it. Very easy to just shake that duvet over the bed and move on. 30 seconds and done. For some people, making the bed means folding up the duvet and leaving it across the foot of the bed so the mattress can air out all day. And then there is this interesting setup from Germany

However, I think the real subject here is... it's no one else's business what happens in your bedroom. Paint it plaid, sleep on a pile of plushies, have orgies, do your taxes in a corner chair, hang all your underwear on pants hangers from a rod suspended from the ceiling. Whatever. Your bedroom, your privacy.

Those are the only reasons you've ever heard?

I can't speak for others, but my sleep is not clean. I can wake up with half the pillows I started with, and the duvet sometimes spun a 180, so the buttons are up by my head. Ive woken up with my arm inside the duvet cover.
My making the bed resets all that. Gets the pillows off the floor or out from behind the headboard, and it turns the duvet round again so I can just flick one corner open and climb in of an evening.

Also when Ive lived with dogs and cats. It kept their hair from getting between the duvet and bedsheet, coz I really enjoy the idea of pets using my bed when I'm not.

Also it stops sex sweat from being in the sleep zone

I make the bed to prevent bugs and spiders from crawling into the sheets

I had one of those sleep number mattresses once, they have inflatable air bags inside so they zip open and you can get at all the layers of foam too. If you saw how much moisture gets trapped in there you'd do like I do and turn your covers down for the day so everything can dry and air out.

Making your bed all nice and tight just traps a whole lot of moisture.

Unpopular maybe, but I agree with you.

I leave my bedroom in the morning and don't really come back until I am ready to go to bed. So the appearance doesn't matter to me.

I prefer my bedding to be how I left it, not all flat and tucked in.

My partner disagrees, so the bed is usually made by them because even if I do it it's not up to standards and I get up and leave for work earlier anyways.

But I get it. The only reason I do it is to be nice to my partner, I could give two shits personally.

If I had an efficiency apartment or something I might do things differently because it's like, cluttered in the whole living space, but otherwise I think it's a waste of time unless you're trying to impress someone.

I feel the same way about folding laundry. The clothes are still clean after going through the wash regardless of if theyre folded up in a specific way afterwards.

This opinion is actuaöly very popular with me.

Some people function better when things are organized and orderly, some function better when things are disorganized and in disarray, some function the same either way.

It is what it is. An orderly, organized bedroom feels great to sleep in to me, and might not matter at all to someone else.

Whatever the case, anyone judging me because my bed is either made or not made can fuck right off.

Edit: upvoted for unpopularity, as one does.

I sleep by myself (well, with my dog, but she doesn’t ruffle the sheets). For me, making my bed is as much as flipping the bed sheets back once I get out of bed. It takes all of one second when I get out of bed; and yes, it looks nicer.

But, no judgement, so you do you.

Ps. It’s only a big deal if you make it a big deal. 😊

I sleep in a hammock and so "making my bed" is just "shove all the blankets into hammock so they're off the floor. I'll have to rearrange them over myself when I go to bed, anyway.

Back when I slept in a bed I never made it, either, unless I was expecting company. If they were sleeping over I'd pull out fresh sheets. If we were just hanging out in my room, I'd pull the comforter flat.

Oh, and I never got the hang of flat sheets. I kick them off in the night, unless they're my only blanket.

My room is really small, and I don't have space for a couch for example, so if I would want to lay down and I'm in outdoor clothes, I would rather kill myself than to lay down in unmade bed while wearing jeans that saw every sort of dirt and dust

Fatal counter point to all your arguments:

It feels better when you do.

Literally none of your logical arguments matter one iota because the human brain does not care how much you logic an argument. It feels nicer and more comforting climbing into a made bed then an unmade one.

Also, lying on wrinkly sheets is inherently uncomfortable.

Because science.

Why Mess Causes Stress

I like it to look nice and neat. Mess and disorder puts me on edge. I like the bed made with the pillows fluffed and throw pillows placed in a certain way. And I do feel like it's more comfortable to sleep in a bed that has been made, because the pillows are fluffed and all the sheets are smoothed out and evenly distributed between my husband and me. I do just get in bed and turn over, I don't rearrange anything, and instead of a blanket I have my hubby for knee support :)

I had no idea people past my grandmother's generation still felt compelled to make their bed... I thought we had collectively grown past the compulsion to do pointless tasks like this, along with other wastes of time like manually wiping the dishes or ironing everything including the dish cloth. Maybe that's just me, though.

(I'm not talking about doing it if you want to because you like it, only about the expectation that you should be doing it no matter what.)

It is actually generally better to not make your bed, particularly if you have asthma or allergies. Making the bed creates a warm, humid environment in which dust mites and bacteria better thrive.

It is also actually not healthy to make it right after you slept in it.

Where it is nice is when you want to lie down you don't have to untangle the sheets.

You just lie down and the sheets are perfect.

Also its nice to tuck them in at least partially to make it easier to make.

Firstly, I respect your opinion as I probably shared it in the past.

Secondly, we're obviously talking about making the bed as in after you wake up. Making the bed as in fresh linen is an amazing feeling and absolutely worth while once every few weeks.

Now, to rebut your comments...

1. It makes it more comfortable.

This is a silly reason, and I don't see how it's true.

It does however make bed time feel calmer and more soothing somehow. In my 20s I didn't care about quality sleep because you just bounce back from anything. In my 40s I do think about things like what might contribute to the perfect night's sleep. Having a shower, putting on clean pyjamas, and climbing into a nice bed in a tidy room just kinda sets the scene for a good sleep.

2. it doesn't take much time so you may as well do it

any task not worth my time to be a waste

this is subjective. Your whole argument may as well be "I don't value having a made up bed", which would be fine, but that's not an unpopular opinion so much as a personal preference.

Regardless, you don't "make" the bed the same way you make it when putting on fresh linen. You just flick the covers straight. It takes less time than scratching your ass.

3. It looks nice. And an unmade bed looks lazy

It's kinda weird how often people do see our bedroom TBH. Usually it's someone using the toilet in the en-suite when the other toilet is in use.

4. It's a good example for our kids

There's no way our kids would keep a nice tidy bedroom if we didn't.

The ritual of unmaking the bed can help some people, who experience difficulties sleeping, mentally prepare for sleep.

Most of our daily routines are.

Generally speaking, I agree with you, for many people... yeah there isn't really any real compelling reason to habitually do this.

However, there are fairly common circumstances where this does actually make sense:

Maybe you just have a tad of OCD, and well... this'll make you feel a bit more steady and comfortable, and it doesn't really hurt anyone, assuming you're not full blown OCD doing it over and over and over because its never perfect.

Maybe you are mildy to moderately depressed... and... just being able to have any kind of regular structure, regular task that you can accomplish... maybe that means you're not a completely useless piece of shit, and if you can keep up this good habit, and give yourself a pat on the back each time... maybe that means you can start to step up toward more, or bigger tasks.

Maybe you're a bit ADHD, and its... anchoring, helpful, to have that same just bit of predictable structure or routine, to help you get your day started.

Maybe you have a cPTSD / Trauma response to a messy bed from associating it with very shitty situations in your past, and... having a made bed just removes a trigger for you.

...

Or maybe you have pets, or toddlers, and don't want to 'lose' them, lol, or have their uh, debris of whatever sort, just get everywhere in the bed.

Maybe you live in a studio and eat food on your bed, clip your nails on it, and you adopt a regular 'crumb removal from your bed' routine as basically just a hygeine pattern, like brushing your teeth or hair or what not.

Maybe your heat went out or its just fucking freezing, and having a properly made bed makes it just a bit warmer to get into for sleep.

Maybe you have very fancy, high maintenance bedding, that will wrinkle and deform if not regularly ... re normalized?

(Yeah I dunno, this is apparently a thing, I am apparently either too simple or broke a man to have ever entertained the idea of a high maintenance bed, but apparently people do?)

But if there was someone I trust enough to be in my bedroom, I’m not going to waste my time convincing you that I do not, in fact, sleep in my bed.

If this is really how you feel, then I suppose I can't dispute you. But this is like saying, "why would I comb my hair? Anyone I want to talk to is okay talking to me as I am."

Sure..... But most people care about things like this. Maybe not explicitly - most people don't explicitly think to themselves "ugh, an unmade bed. What a loser." But on a subconscious emotional level, this is essentially what is happening. As a society, we've decided a made bed looks better than an unmade bed. That you have failed to make your bed prior to someone entering your bedroom indicates a lack of willingness or ability to confirm to social norms. This, then, typically corresponds to individuals with low social status, and lowers others' opinions of you. Again, this happens on an entirely emotional, subconscious level for almost everyone most of the time. But the fact is, it happens.

Hence, when I'm going to have guests in my bedroom, I make my bed. I don't make my bed every day - I just don't care that much. But I will 100% make my bed if I'm expecting someone else to see it, just like I would sweep the floors and comb my hair.

It makes it more comfortable to sleep in.

More comfortable for the cat. She doesn't like it when it's a mess

For me, I like to make it for t o reasons. First, in opposition to your first point, it does make the bed more comfortable. I can skip a day, but any more and the covers are too messed up for me to be comfortable. I don’t sleep like Lenin or Dracula. I’m a side sleeper and I roll around multiple times in the night, but I like the room cold at night, so I like the covers in place.

Second, I learned this from a grand parent I think, and I passed it on to my kids. If it’s the first thing you do in the day you’ve started the day on a good note. You completed something. Admittedly, when I was younger, this didn’t matter to me at all. As I’ve gotten older, it makes a little bit more difference.

I thought the one thing to worry about with the bedsheets is not to grow a large population of mites in them. So you mainly want to keep it ventilated.

I'm with you here. It does look nicer when it's all "setup" but for its purpose, I agree... makes no sense if I'm going to be under the covers anyway. Society plays stupid games and well... you know the rest.

I like to be able to sit or lie on my bed after a long day without it being lumpy.