Do you watch your phone in bed late into night after work hours? Is your phone time eating away your sleep time? Are you still at it everyday, even though you are sleep deprived and you know you should change the habit? This phenomenon actually has a name- revenge bedtime procrastination. Here, someone feels the pressing need to reclaim personal time even at the cost of sleep, usually after a hard day. It is more prevalent in professionals who work six days for long hours and return home late. It is a modern psychological concept that was first popularised in China, sometime ago. This article explores the reasons why it is becoming common these days, who are more prone to this type of behaviour and effective steps to overcome this behaviour.
Common reasons for revenge bedtime procrastination
Perceived lack of control during the day
You are piled with so much work that you mostly operate on auto pilot, jumping from one task to another at work. There is little opportunity for you to use your creativity or take your own time to finish a task. You do what is demanded of you instead of what you want to do. Revenge bedtime procrastination offers you the opportunity to do what you want even when the timing is off.
Fewer cognitive resources at the end of day
Your cognition is at its peak when you are multi tasking at work – attending meetings, sorting issues with colleagues, working as a team, rushing towards the deadlines. But you need to understand that your cognitive resources are finite. They need to be replenished before you use them at full throttle. This explains why people make relatively poor choices during the later part of the day. It is easy to give in to temptations when you are not functioning at your optimum level.
Instant Gratification
What makes you do revenge bedtime procrastination even though you understand that approximately 7 to 8 hours of sleep for an adult is mandatory for healthy functioning? The answer lies in long term benefit vs instant gratification. Sleeping well consistently leads to a better life style but it might take months for actual results to show up. But you get instant pleasure with this night time routine.
Uninterrupted time chunk
Throughout the day your time is divided into so many tiny bits for different activities. Even sitting with an activity for an hour is becoming increasingly rare. So what do you do when you get uninterrupted time that you can call your own. You try to get maximum joy out of it through scrolling social media and binging on your favorite shows.
Self-Soothing Behaviour
For many people night time binging is also a way of emotional regulation especially when you don’t pay attention to your emotions all day long. It helps you relax as you are doing your favourite activity at your own pace. It is a kind of self-soothing behaviour.
How does revenge bedtime procrastination take a toll on you?
Lets start with the simple psychological concept of cognitive dissonance. You know that sleep is important and ruining your sleep everyday is bad for you. Yet it does not stop you from repeating this behaviour. Your consistency ensures that it becomes a habit that is going to be much difficult to shed in later months. Still you don’t stop. This in turn brings in guilt to caution you. To counter the guilt you come up with statements like ‘This is the only time I get for myself in a day’ or ‘I deserve this’. It obscures the guilt but does not resolve the real issue – how revenge bedtime procrastination takes a toll on you.
It starts with sleep deprivation
Sleep has a direct effect on your memory, cognition and mood. Sleep deprivation is the root cause of a lot of heart and other chronic diseases. Loss of sleep impacts all the different systems in the body. Most of those are going to decline in the long run. You are also inviting stress and anxiety which disrupt your emotions big time. So mood swings become common. Our body is simply not built for prolonged stress. It can have really adverse effects. To combat the stress, you nervous system has to work over time. The effects could be hormonal imbalance, sleep disorders, weak immune system or constant fatigue and gut issues. All this will lead to burn out in no time. According to sleep foundation, students and women engage in such behaviours more frequently.
Who does revenge bedtime procrastination?
There are certain groups of people who are more inclined to do this.
- Busy professionals
- People with no autonomy at work
- People already having difficulty sleeping
- Busy mothers who cater to others needs all day
- Students with strong peer influence
- Professionals with irregular schedules
- People with busy travel schedules
All of these groups are known to have very little healthy ‘me time’ during the day, are constantly working, have no fixed schedules of work and have difficulty managing time. This translates to nights turning into leisure hours instead of winding down. Some even think it is self-care but that is not true.
How to overcome revenge bedtime procrastination?
- Substitute it with another favourite activity – sketching, writing in a journal etc
- Incorporate at least 20 mins of ‘me time’ earlier in the day.
- Try going to sleep at the same time. You will automatically feel sleepy closer to the regular time
- Do not use gadgets an hour before going to sleep.
- Practice digital detox to reduce screen dependence
- Create a good sleep routine. (It could be a bath, moisturizing, praying, breathing techniques etc.)
- Talk to yourself positively at the end of each day.
- Write in a gratitude journal before bed.
- Make changes gradually. You can’t change a habit in a day. Be patient.
- Set boundaries at work. Your personal life also deserves your attention.
- Celebrate small wins and keep trying even if you miss a few days.
Be mindful
Ask yourself why you are doing this everyday? Is your answer honest. You are not trying to convince anybody else here. You are only trying to be honest with what you want. If you really want to spend time on your phone late at night, set a time limit instead of mindless scrolling. Talk yourself out of it gradually. When you can convince yourself that this is necessary, you can also come up with alternative arguments for why it is unhealthy in the long term. Your mind ultimately builds a case for what you want. Your transitions have to be mindful. It will take time but you will be in the right direction.
Conclusion
Revenge bedtime procrastination leads to gadget addiction in adults. Delink night time and phone time. Sit with your thoughts and your feelings willingly. A busy mind does not automatically ensure a productive mind. Meditate and get used to silence and less interference from outside world just before going to bed. When you calm your mind, you achieve more balance and clarity on many personal and work issues. Sleep is the most underrated health hack for the modern generation. Do not skimp on it. You deserve rest and rejuvenation without all the distractions.
