Not fresh in the morning? I have often noticed that some are fond of leaving a little gap between the head board of their bed and the wall. The reason maybe that it made sweeping and vacuuming the area between bed and wall a little easier, like a space where the broom or vacuum hose could reach.
This is not good from the feng shui point of view. In fact it is one of the principles of feng shui that the bed must be propped against the wall. The traditional reason given for this is that, with the bed head against the wall (and we sleep with our head on the wall side of course) is that there is a backing, just like the protective wall behind us. This is partly right but not the main reason.
Feng shui very much about harmonizing yin and yang. Yin and yang when understood and applied, brings many benefits.
Propping the head of the bed properly against the wall is a neat trick of having the yin and yang in harmony. The hours of sleep are when the body is recovering from the toil of the day and what better way to refresh than with the mind at total ease, free of stress or anxiety.
With the bed against the wall, stillness is achieved at that point where our head rests. This area of stillness is yin - perfectly ideal for a sound nourishing sleep!
The other reason why the bed head should be against the wall is that we do not want to occupy the central section of the room. In feng shui parlance, the central portion of the room is called the central palace. It is the main activity area so to speak, and sleep is about rest, a removal from activity.
Even in a small little room, there is still a central palace albeit a small one. And when we sleep, we rest in yin. So to get a sound refreshing sleep, we make the best of the balance of yin-yang and one way this can be achieved is to have the bed away from the hub of activity, the central palace. Placing the bed head propped against the wall is one of the ways.
There is one feature of beds which is the extended head board. By this is meant the head board is designed as an additional storage box. With this detail the pillows are extended away from the wall. This, in effect, is moving the bed away from the wall. It is a good place to store bed head the brandy and those wedding photos but a definite no-no fengshui-wise. I hope that furniture makers would take note of this when they design beds!
Of course before ending this short little tip on beds, it goes without saying that bedroom layouts with beds designed off the wall is also not good fengshui. This happens in large bedroom layouts and in studio apartments. They are great interior ideas but the subtle energies at play make this not the design of choice. It is better to go for the conventional layout where the bed is propped against the wall. If you must configure your space, do it with the bed against something solid. It works wonders.