In China's rural society, there are rich folk beliefs and customs, many of which are meticulous observations and summaries of the details of daily life.
These observations are often incorporated into people's wisdom of life, forming a series of sayings and taboos, one of which is the emphasis on the placement of beds - "The bed is against two walls, and the home suffers".
From this sentence, it is not difficult to see that in ancient times, people attached great importance to the placement of beds, and even related them to people's physical conditions, believing that improper placement of beds would cause diseases.
So, is this argument feudal superstition, or is there a real basis? Is there still a need for this proverb to exist today?
The wisdom of the ancients
Feng Shui, a traditional knowledge system derived from ancient China, aims to study the harmonious coexistence between humans and the natural environment.
It believes that the geographical environment has a significant impact on people's living and life, and through the rational layout and selection of the environment, the purpose of conforming to nature and improving the quality of life can be achieved.
The core idea of Feng Shui is "the unity of man and nature", emphasizing that man and nature should live in harmony. As early as the Han Dynasty, Feng Shui began to combine the theoretical development of the five elements of yin and yang, and formed a relatively complete system.
During this period, Feng Shui was not only used to select the location of residences and cemeteries, but also to plan cities, imperial palaces, and mausoleums.
By the Tang and Song dynasties, Feng Shui had reached its peak, many famous Feng Shui books were published one after another, and Feng Shui masters became a respected profession in society.
In order to strengthen their own centralized power, the feudal rulers at that time also pursued the rather mysterious discipline of Feng Shui, and gradually, Feng Shui became an unfathomable science in people's minds.
In fact, the so-called Feng Shui is actually a science that people induct and summarize the laws they find in production and life, and finally form a science.
Many of these statements may seem absurd, but in fact they contain profound wisdom, such as "the bed rests against two walls, and the home suffers from illness".
Literally, this sentence probably means that if the bed in the home is placed close to two walls, such a layout can have adverse health effects on family members and even lead to illness.
And such a statement, it is easy for people to associate it with supernatural forces, thinking that placing the bed in this way will trigger some supernatural factors, which will lead to health problems in the family.
In a feudal society, such a statement would certainly be taken as the truth. In fact, since ancient times, the bed has only been a piece of furniture for people to rest, and it is not much different from other furniture.
However, the ancients did not mention other furniture, only the placement of beds, which would have an impact on people's health. Is there a hidden truth in this?
The science behind it
With the development and progress of science, more and more pseudoscience has been torn off the veil of mystery, and people no longer blindly worship the once deeply believed statements.
However, with the deepening of research, people discovered that behind many proverbs, there are hidden scientific truths.
According to studies, it has been found that sleep plays a vital role in a person's health. The quality of sleep can be affected by many factors. This includes light, sound, temperature, air quality, and many other factors.
It is difficult for a person to fall asleep if they are in a well-lit environment, and loud sounds can also wake a person from a deep sleep. In addition, impurities in the air such as dust and pollen will also interfere with people's breathing, and sleep will naturally be affected.
If you are in this unideal sleep environment for a long time, your immunity and mental state will inevitably be affected, and you will be able to get sick easily.
If the bed is placed at the corner of two walls, then many factors that are not conducive to sleep will be formed.
First of all, it is easy to accumulate a lot of dust in the corner of the wall, which is sprinkled on the bed, and the person who sleeps on it is bound to breathe this dust, which will cause a certain degree of damage to the respiratory system over time.
At the same time, the air in the corners of the wall is extremely difficult to circulate, which causes people to repeatedly breathe in the exhaust fumes they exhale after falling asleep. Over time, people's lungs will be irreversibly damaged, which is why ancient people were prone to lung disease.
In addition, the living environment of the ancients is also very different from that of modern times. The ancients could not build tall buildings, so the houses were usually cold and damp.
In such an environment, if you rest against the wall for a long time, your bones and joints are also prone to diseases.
Therefore, people have concluded that "the bed is against two walls, and the home suffers", which is not only easy to understand, but also easy to remember.
Even if you don't understand the truth behind it, as long as you follow it, you can avoid these unfavorable factors and your body will naturally be healthier.
Since these problems were all restricted by the living environment at that time, and many of them no longer exist today, is this sentence still applicable in today's society?
New questions
Although we no longer face the problems faced by the ancients today, this sentence actually tells us that a comfortable sleeping environment has an extremely important impact on people's health.
Therefore, although this sentence has long been outdated, the ideas it conveys should attract people's attention even more. First of all, everyone in today's society is facing tremendous pressure, and at the same time, the pace of work and learning is increasing day by day.
Living in such an environment, everyone is prone to anxiety and irritability. And this is also the number one problem that affects people's sleep.
Because of this, when sleeping, you should try to calm your emotions, the lights in the bedroom should not be too bright when you fall asleep, and the air should be kept as fresh as possible to create an external environment for yourself to fall asleep more easily.
In addition, the space in the bedroom should also be planned and kept tidy.
A chaotic and crowded environment can create a sense of oppression. Therefore, it is not suitable to put too many clutter in the bedroom, and the cabinet should not be too tall to avoid taking up too much space.
The most likely thing that affects the quality of people's sleep today is a variety of electronic devices, the ancients needed to avoid environmental problems at all times, and now people have to fight against high-tech products all the time.
Many people have the habit of listening to various programs when they fall asleep, and there are many people who wake up in the middle of the night to watch videos.
These behaviors that people have long taken for granted are encroaching on people's sleep time for a long time. If you can't break these habits, then sleep won't be guaranteed.
While the notion that "the bed rests against two walls, the home suffers" is rooted in the traditional notion, the concern behind it – the impact of the living environment on health – is a perennial topic.
What do you think differently about this?