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Good morning and welcome to Episode 045 of the Train Your Brain Podcast with Dr. Michael Trayford. Every Monday we produce a 30-minute episode. Tuesday through Sunday we produce episodes with five-minute tips. Every episode of the Train Your Brain Podcast features a tip, so you can receive pointers 365 days a year that will help enhance the performance of your brain!

In Episode 045, Dr. Trayford gives a brain tip that will literally train your brain to thrive on accomplishments. By making your bed in the morning, you are conditioned to feel happy about a job well done. This snowballs throughout the rest of your day and at night, when you return to your bed, you are reminded of your wise investment because you get to climb into a nicely made bed and enjoy some well deserved rest!

If you have any concerns regarding the information and applications discussed in this podcast, please consult your physician and a doctor who is experienced in functional neurology. Michael Trayford DC, DACNB is available for consultation by calling (828) 708-5274. Thanks for listening.

Jason: Hit Dr. Trayford. I’m a little tired today because I stayed up too late. But if you make your bed, you’ve got to lie in it right?

You beat me to the punch line there. So do you make your bed?

Jason: To be completely honest my wife makes our bed.

Okay so she’s getting the benefit of making the bed. You might need to do alternating days there or something. But thank you for the Segway there.

While it might some mundane, there are actually significant benefits to making your bed each morning. The military has looked at this and simply making your bed can help your brain.

This is pretty interesting stuff. It’s been written up in psychology today. I just listened to a broadcast from Tim Ferriss. He was talking about five morning habits of successful people and the science behind it.

This is something that people often leave behind. You know you wake up, the room is dark, you go take a shower, and go about your day. Then you come home at night and you see that big pile of blankets and sheets right in the middle of the bed and you realize you have to make it.

It can be a little bit stressful at times to not have your bed made, when you really want to use it. There is mounting evidence to support the fact that making the bed in the morning contributes towards making a person happier and more successful.
I mean that’s pretty cool isn’t it?

Jason: wow, yeah! How does that work? I don’t understand?

Some of the numbers are really cool. There was an online survey of 68,000 people, which is a fairly substantial base of people.

The bottom line came down to 59% of people don’t make their beds and 27% do. So that leaves a couple leftover right?

The remaining 12% are people that have someone else make their bed, such as a housekeeper. The interesting part of all this is that 71% of the bed makers, consider themselves happy, while 62% of non-bed makers admit to being unhappy.
So almost the same number there.

Jason: Wow, those stats make me want to just go to bed!

And then this varies by the life of the individual. Now this can also extend to job satisfaction, owning a home, exercising regularly, feeling well rested. These things are all associated with people that fix their beds every day.

Now these are causal relationships. I’ve always said that you can equate cancer of the big toe and cell phone use. It’s just a really far-fetched observation that can be equated somehow.

Now these types of things, there is basis behind it. What happens is that you wake up and right away you’re training your brain to do a task to attend to something and basically it makes you feel good. It’s giving you a sense of accomplishment. So you’re starting a day with a sense of accomplishment, which sets the tone for the rest of the day, and gets you to associate with completing other tasks.

So that small sense of accomplishment starts the snowball effect towards being proactive throughout the rest of your day. When you stop and think about it, it doesn’t take that much to take an extra couple of minutes in the morning to stop and make your bed.

Start developing the habit of making your bed in the morning. Stick with it, see what happens and I guarantee. You it will start to set your day off on the right foot. It’s the little things that make a difference.

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