If you live in a small apartment or share it with family members, you are literally pushed to consider a bedroom office setup – sadly the rest of your home is likely out of bounds, full of interruptions and distractions. If you locate your office within your bedroom, there is a comfortable allure. Working from bed, being in your pajamas, and having everything you need in close proximity for work, play, and entertainment sounds efficient. But is it a good idea?

Having an office in your bedroom is fine if you follow good bedroom office habits. Ensure that working in your bedroom does not deplete your sleep quality and productivity. A good bedroom office setup with dedicated zones, ergonomic equipment, and reduced clutter would go a long way.

Before you decide to have an office in your bedroom, you need to consider the disadvantages. Asking yourself some key questions can save you a ton of trouble later on, as they point you to the steps you need to take.

Should Your Bedroom Double Up as Your Home Office?

Working from your bedroom carries its disadvantages. Since your bedroom serves two purposes, your brain may struggle to break the association of your bedroom office with work when it is time to be in bed. 

If the physical boundaries in your home office are not clear, the conflict between work and rest will become very apparent.

When it is time to work, your bed may tempt you to laze on it and fall asleep. When it is time to sleep, you might receive notifications about the next day of work. What you see physically on your desk or computer screen may remind you of unfinished projects, stress, and unhappiness.

Here are some disadvantages of having an office in your bedroom. 

• Your bedroom may become cluttered up (with work items).
• Your bedroom may not be a productive space.
• Your bedroom lighting may be poor.
• You may be tempted to work on your bed.
• Your sleep quality may be affected.
• Family members may (unknowingly) interrupt you.
• Work-life balance may become more challenging.

Clutter may be a concern, especially if you work from a small bedroom. Good organization is essential for separating your everyday living items from work items. 

Besides, you need to take steps to ensure your space is productive – this includes your room’s lighting, the physical zones of your room, and your organizational skills. 

You need to avoid getting interrupted by family members who might think that you are available to talk. Work-life balance might become more challenging.

Without further ado, here are 6 essential questions to ask yourself while deciding if you should set up an office in your bedroom.

1. Do You Have a Spare Room Which You Can Use?

If you can avoid working and sleeping in the same room, avoid it. This is beneficial for your brain since it needs to learn what to associate a certain space with. 

If you are stressed out in your bedroom office, the same stress may carry on after work, simply because you work and rest in the exact same room. 

Work in another room if you have an unused room or space which you could declutter and transform into a makeshift office. 

But if your bedroom is the best option, you should set up dedicated zones for different activities. 

This helps you to enforce spatial boundaries. Be productive at your desk, and relaxed elsewhere – on your couch, bed, or at your recreational corner when you are not working.

Related: Where to Set Up a Home Office? 9 Potential Spaces in a Home Analyzed

2. Does Working in Your Bedroom Affect Your Sleep Quality?

One of the main health concerns of working in your bedroom is the tendency to use light-emitting devices near bedtime, which can throw off your circadian rhythm and hinder good sleep. 

Besides, sleep is sabotaged by stress, poor work-life balance, and poor physical boundaries. Working on your bed would train your brain to associate your bed with productivity and wakefulness. Bad sleep would mean that you wake up the next morning unproductive, sloppy, moody, and lethargic. 

Therefore, you need to do your utmost to ensure that your sleep is well protected. 

This might mean not working on the bed, minimizing devices before bedtime, setting up a meditation corner, or changing the lighting in your room to change the mood. You can experiment with a few factors and test what works best for you.

3. How Large is Your Bedroom?

If you do not have the space for a desk, it is best to reconsider your decision to set up a bedroom office. 

Sure, you do not actually need a large space to set up a home office. All you need is 55 x 55 inches (4.6 ft by 4.6 ft) or 21 sq feet – that is the minimum space you must set aside for a home office based on estimations of the work and tech needs of the average person, compared to the comfortable and ideal home office sizes.

But if the space in your bedroom is way too small, say smaller than 21 sq feet, it can become very cluttered once you set up a desk with cables, office items, and multiple devices like printers and extra monitors. 

There are ways to get around this challenge and organize a small bedroom. For instance, a corner desk would help you maximize unused corners while saving space. You might need to get desks with storage units like drawers, cabinets, or under-desk shelves. Becoming minimalist will really help with living and working in a smaller space.

4. Do You Work Alone?

You should consider the people who may enter and exit your bedroom office. Let your family members know that you are working. A simple way to do so is to hang a sign on your door that says you are busy.

However, if you are working with a partner, a business partner, or with team members, it is best to set up a dedicated workspace for co-working. Physical boundaries are crucial. If others are using your bedroom office, you would not want them to hang out on your bed or occupy your entire room. 

Your desk – set up in a dedicated zone of your bedroom – should allow your guests to work comfortably. Good lighting, ergonomics, and temperature are all essential for a comfortable and productive working environment.

5. In What Environments Are You Most Productive?

If you have lazy or bad habits in your bedroom, it can be difficult to prevent these bad habits from creeping in. Therefore, it is best to be realistic and alternate between working in your bedroom and working in an outdoor space, instead of staying home to work every day. 

Getting outdoors for a walk, along with working at a nearby cafe or library from time to time can really help with productivity.

Some people function more creatively in larger and more open environments compared to smaller and enclosed spaces. Likewise, if you are such a person, it is best to alternate between your bedroom and outdoor space.

6. Are You Willing to Invest in Some Basic Essentials?

Needless to say, you cannot shabbily make a bedroom office by putting together an unused table with drawers in a corner, and expect to become productive from it. There are some basic essentials you may need to invest in:

• Good lighting: If your bedroom lacks a window, you will be deprived of natural sunlight which is essential during the day. Nevertheless, invest in proper lighting such as task lights.
• Wall organizers: If your bedroom is a small space, you might need to maximize empty wall space and save up on the floor space. This might mean investing in relatively inexpensive tools such as pegboards and wall-mounted shelves.
• Proper desk and chair: Bad desk ergonomics will cause you to suffer strain, stress, and injury. A non-adjustable desk with a bad height could result in eye strain, and a bad chair can reduce blood flow circulation and cause back pain.

To include such essentials in your bedroom, you may have to get rid of space-consuming, bulky items that you do not need. This may include empty cabinets and unused personal items. A minimalist approach will free up more mental and physical space.

This article was originally published on unboundist.com. If it is now published on any other site, it was done without permission from the copyright owner.

Practice Good Bedroom Office Habits

Work in your bedroom is not bad if you ensure good bedroom office habits. Really, the basics are not that hard. Light snacks are fine, eat your meals outside your bedroom office to avoid food crumbs and pests. Reduce clutter in the form of used clothes and stacks of work documents lying around. 

After you get rid of clutter, add in habits that show yourself care.

If you tend to look at screens during the night, use blue light blocking glasses, or set up blue light filters on all of your devices. Set up night mode on your mobile phone and use relatively inexpensive apps like Flux or Iris on your computer.

If you have to use your bed for work, avoid working on it near your bedtime. Working from your bed might be fine in certain situations, such as during the “transitional” parts of your day for an hour or so before dinner, or when you need to switch positions after prolonged sitting at your desk. 

Make sleep a priority during the night time. After a certain hour, it is ideal to shut off work completely so that your brain knows the right signals to send to your body – the recovery and rest signals you need. 

Enough sleep keeps your weight down, supports your energy, and makes you less irritable during your work day.

Conclusion

If you manage to tackle the disadvantages of having an office in your bedroom, it would not hurt (as much) to work from your bedroom. If you would like more visuals and examples of a productive bedroom office setup, this article provides a complete walkthrough and ideas of how you could radically transform your bedroom space.