Many people put work first during the day. Thus, they stay up late and have little free time. Nights are their sole chance to regain some personal control while their days are full. However, this poisonous little hobby is harming more than helping.
Corporate worker Ayesha is often overworked. She works from dawn to dusk on household duties, meetings, and projects, leaving little time for herself. After 11 p.m., when she realizes she has to wake up in a few hours for another busy day, Ayesha intentionally delays sleep to watch her favorite Netflix episodes or surf through social media.
Ayesha was doing “Revenge Bedtime Procrastination,” which comes from the Chinese term “bàofùxìng áoyè,” meaning “revenge stay up all night”!
Is it true?
In 2014, Frontiers in Psychology defined “bedtime procrastination” as “failing to go to bed at the intended time, while no external circumstances prevent a person from doing so.”
Journalist Daphne K Lee coined “revenge bedtime procrastination” on Twitter. “People who don’t have much control over their daytime life refuse to sleep early to regain some sense of freedom during late night hours,” she said.
After a long day of labor, a few hours of leisure and entertainment at night is vengeance. It is worrying since it disrupts the sleep cycle, affects body and mind, and suggests poor time management.
Losing bedtime doesn’t work!
Revenge nighttime procrastination is harmful. Those seductive hours only bring temporary delight. The body and mind, which require time to reset at night, are up binging movies and doom-scrolling Instagram. Eyes on the screen all night and early mornings might cause serious sleep deprivation.
Consistent all-nighters might disrupt the sleep cycle and body clock. People are not obtaining the sleep that strengthens the heart, body, mind, and immune system! Revenge bedtime procrastination may cause:
- Depression/anxiety
- Cardiovascular risk.
- Low immunity
- Obesity
- Focus issues
Revenge Bedtime Procrastination primarily affects who?
Revenge bedtime procrastination may also impact persons with high-stress occupations and poor work-life balance. Retribution bedtime procrastination can also affect insomniacs and night owls.
The 2019 Phillips Global Sleep Survey, which got more than 11,000 responses from 12 countries, found that 62% of adults worldwide don’t get enough sleep, average 6.8 hours on weeknights compared to the recommended eight. Stress and their sleeping environment contributed to this disparity, but 37% blamed their busy work or school schedule.
Women are more likely to procrastinate bedtime than males. According to a 2019 study, bedtime procrastination is more common in women and students, although it may happen to anyone who’s busy. Another 2019 Polish study found that “the chance of severe bedtime procrastination is more than twice as high for females than for males.”
Bedtime procrastination is particularly common in younger Millenials and Generation Z.
Exhausted mornings. Why bother?
Lack of daytime leisure time makes people want a few hours at night. Self-regulation cannot be ignored. Habits are hard to break. Thus, revenge bedtime procrastination victims desire to sleep and have a good body clock, but their mind is not in control, which shows in their actions.
Revenge nighttime procrastination is also caused by work-life blending. Companies demand remote and hybrid workers to be available 24/7, affecting work-life balance. The only way to cram in some personal time during the day is at night.
