Do you have "bedtime procrastination"? I heard that women are more serious than men!

“Let me check Weibo again, in case there is any exciting news”, “Let me browse Taobao again, not buy anything, just take a look”, “Watch Douyin again, I will go to sleep in 10 minutes”… Do these thoughts pop up in your mind every night before going to bed? When you pick up your phone, you just want to check it, browse for a while, or browse it, but in the blink of an eye, an hour or two has passed.

Of course, it is not only mobile phones that cause delayed sleep, but also TVs and computers. For example, you sit in front of the TV and watch TV series episode after episode, or you can't get away from the computer games League of Legends or PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. Therefore, many researchers believe that since the emergence of entertainment electronic devices, this phenomenon of delayed sleep has become more serious.

What is bedtime procrastination?

The phenomenon of holding a mobile phone before going to bed and not sleeping even if you are sleepy is called "bedtime procrastination", which delays bedtime every night and leads to insufficient sleep. This "procrastination" was first proposed by Floor M. Kroese, a Dutch social and behavioral scientist in 2014. It has three characteristics: First, going to bed is actively delayed, rather than lying in bed wanting to sleep but unable to fall asleep. Second, there is no legitimate reason for staying up late, rather than not sleeping because of unfinished work or staying up late to prepare for exams. Third, people who go to bed late know that delaying bedtime will have negative effects.

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Bedtime procrastination is sometimes called "retaliatory bedtime procrastination." Doesn't the "retaliatory" sound interesting? Jana Kühnel, a psychologist at the University of Vienna, thinks the two terms have different meanings. In her opinion, retaliatory bedtime procrastination has nothing to do with procrastination. Generally speaking, procrastination describes the behavior of postponing activities or tasks that are considered urgent and necessary - such as playing computer games or browsing the phone before writing a paper, etc. Other less important things. In contrast, Kühnel believes that retaliatory bedtime procrastination is "intentionally" delaying going to bed. In fact, the term "retaliatory bedtime procrastination" originated in my country. The three words "retaliatory" are added because most workers in China cannot get off work normally. After a day of hard work, delaying sleep time is the only way to increase the fun of their lives. Therefore, the most common reason for going to bed late is the habit of going to bed late due to watching mobile phones, TV and other media at night and lack of self-control.

What are the factors that lead to procrastination before going to bed?

First of all, people who go to bed late lack self-control. Kroese et al. pointed out in the book "Procrastination, Health, and Happiness" published in 2016 that people who procrastinate before going to bed tend to procrastinate in other ways as well.

However, not all scientists believe that bedtime procrastination is only related to self-control. In a 2018 Frontiers in Psychology study, Kühnel and her two colleagues investigated the impact of self-control on bedtime procrastination among a total of 108 employees from different industries. The results showed that in addition to self-control, different "sleep types" also have an impact on bedtime. Late sleepers (owls) are more likely to procrastinate on weekdays than early sleepers (larks).

In 2019, two Polish researchers looked for other possible influences that could lead to delayed bedtimes. They found no significant relationship between delayed bedtimes and where the volunteers lived, their education level, or their family situation. However, women tended to go to bed later than men, and students were more likely to go to bed later.

What are the consequences of delaying sleep?

From a clinical perspective, bedtime delays do not necessarily have a negative impact. This phenomenon only affects health when the delayed sleep behavior leads to regular lack of sleep. Too little sleep at night will have the most obvious impact on the next day, and you will feel listless, unable to concentrate, and your physical and mental performance will not be very good. However, long-term lack of sleep can also accelerate the occurrence of cardiovascular disease, obesity, diabetes or depression.

Even a mild lack of sleep can damage the immune system, especially since teenagers need a long enough night's rest to ensure normal brain development. Too little sleep can cause them long-term cognitive problems. In addition, lack of sleep can weaken self-control, which further increases the tendency to procrastinate and forms a vicious cycle.

According to a domestic study in 2020, depression among Chinese college students is likely to be related to procrastination before bedtime, especially severe depressive symptoms are significantly associated with procrastination at bedtime. Another study in 2021 showed that excessive smartphone use is associated with sleep quality and depressive symptoms, and that students who are "smartphone addicted" are more likely to struggle with depression and anxiety, and those with low self-control are deeply affected.

How to overcome bedtime procrastination?

What will you do when TV series, short videos, late-night gossip or other tempting news beckons you late at night?

The first thing to do is to recognize that going to bed late can have negative effects. Although many people say they sleep too little and feel tired all the time, they still think that going to bed early is not the solution to relieve fatigue. Therefore, Kroese recommends that the first thing to do is to raise people's awareness of the impact of insufficient sleep on health.

Kroese offers some tips for better sleep, such as:

Consider your evening routine and sleep preferences. You can set a specific goal for bedtime by asking yourself each night what time you really want to go to bed and what you plan to do before bed.

It can also be helpful to impose clear rules on yourself, such as a no-phone rule in bed or a rule to turn off all electronics and lights after a certain time.

It's also a good idea to move "temptations" out of the bedroom, for example, by placing the computer in the study instead of the bedroom, or by having only one TV in the living room.

Keep your phone charged in a room other than your bedroom. Some therapists also recommend doing more pleasurable activities during the day to unwind, rather than waiting until the evening to unwind with your phone.

Develop some bedtime rules and escape the clutches of bedtime procrastination!

Feel free to leave a message in the comment section and tell us how you overcome sleep procrastination!

References:

Kroese FM, Evers C, Adriaanse MA, et al. Bedtime procrastination: A self-regulation perspective on sleep insufficiency in the general population[J]. Journal of health psychology, 2016, 21(5): 853-862.

Kühnel J, Syrek CJ, Dreher A. Why don't you go to bed on time? A daily diary study on the relationships between chronotype, self-control resources and the phenomenon of bedtime procrastination[J]. Frontiers in psychology, 2018: 77.

Kroese FM, Nauts S, Kamphorst BA, et al. Bedtime procrastination: a behavioral perspective on sleep insufficiency[M]//Procrastination, health, and well-being. Academic Press, 2016: 93-119.

Herzog-Krzywoszanska R, Krzywoszanski L. Bedtime procrastination, sleep-related behaviors, and demographic factors in an online survey on a polish sample[J]. Frontiers in neuroscience, 2019, 13: 963.

Guo J, Meng D, Ma X, et al. The impact of bedtime procrastination on depression symptoms in Chinese medical students[J]. Sleep and Breathing, 2020, 24: 1247-1255.

Cui G, Yin Y, Li S, et al. Longitudinal relationships among problematic mobile phone use, bedtime procrastination, sleep quality and depressive symptoms in Chinese college students: a cross-lagged panel analysis[J]. BMC psychiatry, 2021, 21(1): 1-12.

The article is produced by Science Popularization China-Starry Sky Project (Creation and Cultivation). Please indicate the source when reprinting.

Author: Denovo Popular Science Writer

Reviewer: Chen Haixu, Deputy Director of PLA General Hospital (301 Hospital) and Postgraduate Supervisor