Your bed is not an office (whatever your laptop says)

Ever worked in bed? Of course you have. Since working from home took off, for many of us the bed has become desk, cinema, dining table and call centre in one. The laptop balances on the duvet, next to it a plate of crumbs, and somewhere between the pillows lies a charging cable that's guaranteed to end up in your back at night.

Sounds cosy, and it is, at least for the first hour. And then we wonder why we lie in bed at night and the brain simply refuses to switch off.

Your brain is a creature of habit

Our minds are rather good at linking places with activities. The kitchen means eating, the sofa means relaxing, the office means working, and the bed should really mean sleeping.

But when we answer emails in bed, fill in spreadsheets and get cross with colleagues, the brain learns something quite different. Suddenly bed means being awake, thinking, performing. And that's exactly the feeling that comes back when we actually want to fall asleep. Which is why sleep researchers recommend a very simple rule: the bed is for sleep and for love, and for practically nothing else.

And Netflix?

I know, one episode in bed is one of the cosiest things there is. But one episode quickly becomes three, the bright screen keeps you awake, and a season finale isn't exactly the best lullaby.

How to win your bed back

1. A fixed place to work. Even if it's just a corner of the kitchen table: work belongs at a table, not under the duvet.

2. The laptop sleeps outside. Charge your phone and laptop outside the bedroom overnight. A perfectly ordinary alarm clock can wake you up.

3. An evening ritual. A book, a cup of tea or a few lines in a journal, anything that tells your head the working day is over.

4. Awake in bed? Get up. If you're still wide awake after about twenty minutes, get up for a while, read something in dim light and only go back to bed once you're sleepy. That way the bed stays a place for sleeping, not for brooding.

The verdict

Your bed is the loveliest place in your home, so don't give it your desk's job. After all, you wouldn't want to fall asleep on your keyboard either.

And the crumbs? We'll find those at two in the morning anyway.