Should your office be in the bedroom?

(www.myorganizedbiz.com) – Let’s free associate for a moment.

Here are the words I associate with “office”:

• invigorating
• busy
• full
• productive
• energizing
• information
• engaged

These are the words I think of when I say “bedroom”:

• sexy
• sleep
• restful
• relaxing
• quiet
• dark
• escape
• oasis

What words do you come up with?

Putting the bed in office?

Sometimes people have a dilemma when it comes to deciding where to put the office desk. If space is at a premium, the options may be limited. The room where you only spend 1/3 of your life may seem like a good choice since it’s basically unused space during the day.

If the bedroom is all you have, then go for it. But here are some reasons why I say keep work out of the bedroom.

The sleep experience: If you have to look at your clutter before going to bed (because, face it, there will be SOMEthing left undone), how does that affect you? You may think it doesn’t, but I encourage you to give it a second thought.

Blinking LEDs seem so inconsequential during the day, but at night when your pupils are dialated, just a few can light up the whole room. Everything from your chargers to routers have them. Small amounts of light affect your sleep patterns and can disturb your sleep.

It’s called a bedroom for a reason. Sleep experts say that the only two things should happen in bed: sleep is one of the two approved activities. The other is for grown-ups. The goal is to provide an environment that helps you get restorative slumber – anywhere from 7-9 hours – so you can awake refreshed.

So, life’s not like that sometimes. But what’s the cost to you?

Subtle source of stress: If you work at home in your bedroom, there is a sense that you can’t really escape from work. Being able to get away from work and having a restorative oasis are essential. Tangling up the stress of work with the place you sleep is tricky territory. It can be done, but it must be carefully.

The way I see it, if someone were to say, “Hey, you know, I’m thinking about moving my bed into my office and starting to sleep in there every night with my beloved.” What’s your intial reaction to that idea? To me, it sounds wierd, even stressful. But eventually, that’s what you’d have if you put the office in the bedroom.

What do you think of the idea that bedrooms and workspaces don’t mix?