When I was a kid, I closed my bedroom door to sleep.
When I was in college and had roommates, I closed my bedroom door also, to avoid the possible noise of others moving around or just generally being awake while I tried to get some shuteye.
Whenever it was just me and a girlfriend I didn’t bother closing the bedroom door (and none of them ever did either) when I (or we) went to bed, unless she (or I) was gonna be up and making noise (TV, music, etc.).
And now that I live alone, I can’t see any reason to close any door that isn’t on the exterior of the house.
But I know that people are different, and people have different situations, and for some reason I’m now curious to know whether to not other people close their bedroom doors when they go to bed.
I’m not gonna give the poll a whole bunch of options that include reasons why people might close their door (or not); I’ll leave it to y’all to post the “why” if ya want to.
I live alone… And… Yes… No real reason, I guess, but it’s how I was brought up.
I close the bathroom door when I’m relieving myself: same reason. Just habit.
In my mind, the “natural state” of a door is “closed.” One opens doors only for the purpose of passing through, and one closes them again behind. A law of nature.
I close and lock the bedroom door despite living alone. Honestly, it makes me feel a little safer. I figure if someone breaks in downstairs (my master bedroom is upstairs), it’ll afford me a little extra protection from some crazy rapist murderer.
I don’t see any reason for us to close the bedroom door, our roomie has a suite in the barn [the one we used to live in before I lost the ability to climb stairs - it is the entire top floor of the barn, and has a private bathroom. Very quiet and comfortable. I really miss it :(]
I usually sleep with my bedroom door open, so my dog can wander in and out. But now that it’s summer, I sleep with a fan in my room and turn off the air conditioner to save money. I feel it’s better for my dog if I keep him in here with me with the cooler air, so I close the door so he’ll stay.
When I was 11 years old, t.wo thieves broke into several houses on my street during the night. One searched for valuables while the other one stood over the owners holding a shotgun inches from their face! My grandparents were among the victims but thankfully they didn’t even wake up during the ordeal. The storm door lock/handle had been broken on our back door, and the wood on the main door had significant damage from a crowbar trying to pry it open, but for some reason they stopped before they got in??
When they were finally arrested, both of them had numerous dog bites covering their legs and feet. They were so bad that one had sought treatment and three of the bites required 10+ stitches each. THe other criminal had to be treated immediatley upon arrest for the damage to his right foot. The dog had caused irreparable damage to some of the muscles/tendons and nerves in the foot and it was so severely infected they had to amputate almost 1/3 of it…
Several days after they were arrested they finally admitted that they were attacked by a German Shepherd while trying to break into a house…the only house on our street that they didn’t break in…ours! And I happened to have the most awesome German Shepherd in the world named WOLF! He may have saved one or all my family’s lives that night thanks to his Cujo impression!
I began having ‘night terrors’ immediately after the break-ins and would wake up soaked with sweat, heart racing and screaming at the top of my lungs. Sometimes I had nightmares that someone was breaking in the house to kill me but most of the time I didn’t remember dreaming anything.
In any case, I became the first 12-year old I’ve ever known to take Valium every night (before they had Ambien). I also slept my door closed, locked and sometimes even pushed a bookshelf or nightstand against it for a while. I
I still sleep with the door closed and locked…and with a loaded Glock 19 tucked between the bed and nightstand, just in case!
I have my own place and cats. They need to come and go, and I prefer the air circulation, especially when the a/c is on. I also leave the bathroom door open. Sometimes I leave the back porch door open when the weather’s nice, with the screen door locked (like that would do anything - but maybe the racket of someone breaking it would wake me up. Eh, just not worried about it). I’m on the fourth floor, no windows are accessible, and there’s a big gate that’s always locked. Nobody’s bothering to come all the way up here.
When I lived with my parents, of course I closed the door to sleep, and still do when I visit. They’re noisy and they snore. Was a good motivation to move out in the first place!
About half and half for me. If it’s hot I usually leave it open (my stupid room is hotter than the rest of the apartment). If my daughter is here and I have a dude over, I always close it.
Open, if there aren’t any guests. I always had the door open, first for the cat and then just… no reason to close it.
I wouldn’t lock the door. My parents always taught me it’s more dangerous to lock the door, because the chance is higher that you won’t be able to get out in a fire or of emergency services not being able to get to you, than people breaking in just to hurt you. I don’t know about the stats, but I think it makes sense. Getting out yourself is probably of more concern than keeping someone else out.
Beelzebubba, yay for Wolf! I hope having such a great dog made you feel a little safer.
I tend to go to bed before my husband, so it starts out closed, since he sits up watching TV. Once he comes to bed, he leaves it open. One of our cats believes he’s entitled to full access, and he’ll repeatedly jump up and hang on the door lever till it opens. Talk about a noise that’ll scare the bedoobies out of you in the middle of the night!! So the more restful option is to leave it open.
Even when we have guests, we’ll leave our door open a wee bit for cat access.
Always closed. I’d rather not have some gaping void in the corner of my room while I’m trying to get to sleep, thanks. (The only thing worse is having the closet door open. :eek:)
We close our BR door only when we have houseguests. I almost always get up before my wife, so I close the door since I am going to turn the radio on when I go downstairs.
Hehe, that freaks out my SO too, but it’s nothing compared to my sister.
When we were little we had a big walk-in over an old staircase. It was draughty, so my mum used to say: “Close the door to keep out the draught!” My little sis somehow heard “close the door to keep out the giraffe”, and spent her entire childhood terrified of the giraffe in the cupboard.
It was only years later that we learned why she was so scared of the cupboard. She still gets freaked out about closing the doors of cupboards, and we of course still tease her about the giraffe in the cupboard.
I live alone. I used to sleep with the door open (most of the time).
Last year, when the remodelling on my house started, my GC (an dold friend of mine) would show up and start working before I was awake. So I got used to keeping my door closed.
I actually sleep with the door closed because my cats aren’t allowed in my bedroom, and they would get in if I kept the door open. Also, I live with other family members, and I don’t want them looking into my room (though they probably wouldn’t), but yeah, it’s mostly because of the cats.
I love my cats, but I don’t want them going into my room and getting into trouble.
We sex with the door closed and sleep with it open, both for the same reason: kids. The little one either A) comes into our room in the wee hours and goes back to bed with us for a bit or B) wakes up and starts tearing ass all over the house trying to get into things he knows he can’t get into if mommy’s up. So it allows me to hear him.
It stays closed and locked with a deadbolt during the day because there is just too much stuff in there for them to get into that I would rather they didn’t.
