Revenge Bedtime Procrastination: Choosing Freedom Over Heath

Journalist Daphne K Lee defined this phenomenon as when people who don't have much control over their daytime life refuse to sleep early at night to regain some sense of control or freedom during those hours

Written By Kashish Sharma | Updated : December 9, 2022 2:07 PM IST

Revenge On Time

There might be some differences in the things we ought to do and things we might want to do. Leisure is essential for our well-being but with challenging work routines on the rise, many of us are losing time to do things that are fun for us. Some of us have found a way to compensate for the loss, we might steal time at night. In this way, we might deliberately cut sleep hours to make space for leisure activities like surfing phones or reading a book or watching a movie. At this point, our physical state would contradict our intention. In loose terms, this condition has been identified as Revenge Bedtime Procrastination.

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Freedom Versus Need

The phrase got popular with a post by journalist Daphne K Lee who defined this phenomenon as when people who don’t have much control over their daytime life refuse to sleep early at night to regain some sense of control or freedom during those hours. People who have challenging jobs that are characterized by long working hours or maybe young parents who are entire day involved with the baby might fall into this behaviour. It has been called revenge cause it has a psychological aspect to it where a person is taking revenge against time, stealing it by cutting down the time required for necessary rituals like sleep.

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Psychological

People showing this behaviour might usually not suffer from conditions like insomnia or other sleeping disorders. The sleep delay is not due to sickness or environmental factors but it is governed by a psychological urge to gain control of the fleeting time.

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Behaviour-Intention Conflict

As per studies, people who engage in this behaviour, their behaviour is not in alignment with their intention. Their physical body and thoughts might acknowledge that it is time to sleep but their behaviour might show otherwise. Such people know the negative consequences of their behaviour, and they might also want to sleep, despite their actions. Studies also find poor self-regulation in these individuals.

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Consequences Of Sleep-deprivation

People engaging in this behaviour are though able to satiate their leisure instincts but in the longer run, they might have to face the consequences of prolonged sleep deprivation. They become prone to suffer from anxiety, depression, high blood pressure, increased risk of cardiac disorders, metabolic disorders like diabetes, problems with memory and other conditions that might happen due to lack of sleep.