On TikTok, Bed Rotting Is Out & Hurkle-Durkling Is In

Once you make it to the sleepy side of TikTok, you know you’re in for a treat. Your FYP will flood with tart cherry juice mocktails, cozy nighttime routines, bed rotting tips, and eventually the art of hurkle-durkling.

This Scottish term, which has over 11 million views on TikTok, is quickly becoming the latest and greatest excuse to rest as often as possible. To hurkle-durkle is to stay in bed even when you know it’s time to get up. It’s all about prioritizing your urge to snooze, especially when you technically have “better” things to do.

The phrase first came to be in the 19th century, and now it’s starting to make a comeback amongst the sleepy girl community thanks in part to creator @kirakosarin, who said she’s a big fan of a hurkle-durkle. In a video, which now has 350,000 likes, Kosarin admitted that she’ll stay in bed until she’s “hurkled her last durkle” — and only then will she get up.

The folks in her comments section seemed to be on board with the lifestyle as well, with one person saying, “That’s crazy, I’m deep in a hurkle-durkle right now” while another wrote, “As a Scot I’m sad I didn’t know this term until now, as I too like a good hurkle-durkle.”

The Scottish Art Of Sleeping In

If you set your alarm to get up at 6 a.m. for a workout, but then decide to hit snooze, that’s a hurkle-durkle. If it’s Saturday morning and you want to run errands, but then you opt to stay in bed till noon, that’s also a hurkle-durkle.

A hurkle-durkle is all about staying comfy amongst your pillows, despite your busy schedule. It feels a little bit cheeky and naughty to sleep in, and that’s all part of the appeal. Your bed becomes a hundred times softer when you forsake your plans in favor of lying around.

Creator @devriebrynn pointed out that hurkle-durkling is arguably good for your well-being, too. “Hurkle-durkle is a 200-year-old Scots term that means lounging in bed well past the time you were supposed to get up,” she said in a TikTok. “That’s right. They knew it was so critical to well-being they made a whole term about it.”

She went on to note that she isn’t being “lazy” or “wasting her day” when she hurkle-durkles. Instead, she sees it as practicing an “ancestral rite of passage” while “connecting with her culture and heritage.” And honestly, her speech is inspiring.

Again, in true TikTok form, Brynn’s comments flooded with hilarious takes. One person joked, “Here I am tapping into my 17 percent Scottish ancestry without realizing it,” while another said, “I will be hurkle-durkling from here on out” — all words that were presumably written by someone in bed.

Is Hurkle-Durkling The New Bed Rotting?

The hurkle-durkle comes hot on the heels of the bed rotting craze, which has gotten a lot of pushback. Bed rotting is the act of lying down for hours on end as a way to deal with fatigue, burnout, or overwhelm. It feels so good in the moment, but some argue that it actually does more harm than good.

“Ideally, bed rotting is a tool to relax and revitalize,” Dr. Carla Marie Manly, a clinical psychologist and author of Joy from Fear, previously told Bustle. You’ll know something’s amiss, though, if you lie around without ever feeling more refreshed. In that case, she noted that it might be better to get up and try something different, like a walk, a hobby, or a trip outside.

The term “bed rotting” also sounds bad. “On a neurolinguistic level, [it] evokes a sense of deterioration and decline,” Manly said. A hurkle-durkle, on the other hand, sounds jolly and fun, which might explain why it’s becoming so popular.

While a bed rot can last all weekend, a hurkle-durkle is a morning activity and one that eventually comes to an end. It’s all about sleeping in, reading in bed, and having yourself a cozy, slow morning before eventually getting on with your day — and what could be more refreshing than that?

Source:

Dr. Carla Marie Manly, clinical psychologist author of Joy from Fear