You can skip the whole cooking part if you leave your oats and water mixed overnight!
Put your oats, portion of milk, some berries, cinnamon and honey in a container and leave it in the fridge overnight.
Do it now.
Come thank me tomorrow morning once you've tried it.
Regarding berries, those can be deep-frozen, and turn the oatmush into icy slush. Giving it an unexpected but nice texture. At the same time the aromas from the berries went into everything, but the milk didn't get thick like buttermilk. Like it can happen with too much citrus/orange/mandarine/clementine in milk. Of course one can vary and combine that with different yoghurts, kefir, kombucha, and so on.
Come thank me, once you've tried it. If cold stuff is your thing at all, which could be compensated with some nice green tea, or coffee, ofc.
Plain oats is a pain in the ass to cook. It takes real long and requires constant vigilance. Instant oats just needs some boiling water and 30 seconds in the microwave.
I might be wrong, but I do think non-instant oats is more nutritious.
But to answer your question, it's a combo of laziness and taking care of future me. Nothing beats opening the fridge in the morning, groggy AF, and finding delish breakfast ready to go, and it's dirt easy to prepare with no pots to clean afterwards.
This works well for rolled oats but not for steel cut. Both types are much nicer cooked in a pot with stirring to bring out the creaminess (like risotto).
I've been doing this for a very long time but I use rolled oats and plain water (I drain the water completely before eating). I eat soaked oats every day and always have a fresh bowl or two soaking in the fridge. They are still fine to eat even if they've been soaking for more than 24h.
I like the fact that they are more concentrated in terms of calories/nutrients per 100g than cooked oats and also provide steadier energy. I often pair them with a protein drink (pea protein + rice protein), a drizzle of avocado/olive oil, and berries. Takes just a few minutes to prepare.