What is Revenge Sleep Procrastination?

And how do you stop it?

Life gets so busy sometimes, and 24 hours are not enough for us to do everything we need to do. We often have a long list of priorities and sleep is at the bottom of that list. We “rob” ourselves of sleep just to create more hours to do the things we feel need to do.

We consider sleep a luxury, and rather than ‘wasting’ a lot of time sleeping, we would rather use that time to do things we weren’t able to do during the day. This is Revenge Sleep Procrastination. This term was originally coined in China, but the English translation is now being adopted and used globally.

The ‘revenge’ refers to the idea that you take ‘revenge’ on the daytime hours where you were robbed of taking time for yourself because you were too busy. So you take control of your life late at night. Many times, this involves scrolling through social media and watching Netflix — things that don’t necessarily benefit us in comparison to sleep.

We get stuck in a cycle of watching TikToks and Instagram reels until way past midnight, have only a few hours of sleep, wake up, go to work and repeat the cycle again.

According to the National Sleep Foundation revenge sleep procrastination is- “the decision to sacrifice sleep for leisure time that is driven by a daily schedule lacking in free time.”

This happens because we don’t feel we have enough time during the day, so we compromise our sleep for personal time.

Revenge sleep procrastination is now common among people who lead busy lives and are often stressed and burned out from work and/or family. These are the factors that determine it:

• Delaying going to sleep and reducing the total sleep time for the night

• Having no valid reason to stay up later than intended

• Being aware that staying up late can have negative consequences

We live in a hyperconnected world, and we do everything possible to make sure we get our daily dose of social media — even if it means disrupting our sleeping patterns.

Not getting enough sleep comes along with consequences including:

• Feeling constantly fatigued

• Depression

• Memory Impairment

• Poor concentration

• High blood pressure

So how do we break the cycle?

The good thing is we all get 24 hours in a day, and no one gets more than the next person, so we are all on the same page.

The main difference is planning.

• Plan every minute of your day and stick to that schedule.

• Do what you said you would do when you said you would do it.

• Make sure your day has some activities that make you happy.

• Schedule time for just hanging out or for that yoga class you’ve been wanting to take.

Sticking to the schedule means that, at the end of the day, you would have done much with minimal distractions, and you will be able to go to bed on time.

Come up with a strict nighttime routine. Stick to a specific bedtime and wake up around the same time every morning. A nighttime routine may involve brushing your teeth, your face and planning tasks for the following day. Religiously following a routine that works for you will help you get enough sleep and wake up on the time the following day.

Make sure that the last hour of your day is screen-free. This way, you don’t overstimulate your brain and slowly shut down for a good night’s rest.

On the days when your self-control is low, an effective way to leave your phone and go to bed is a sleep timer. Most smartphones have sleep timers which will turn off the phone and access to apps. This will force you to log off for the day.

We sometimes need the caffeine boost but, in some cases, it does us more harm than good. Because caffeine is a stimulant, it takes our bodies about 10 hours to clear it out from our systems. So, for those 10 hours, we can experience increased activity in our brains and nervous systems. This can get in the way of an early night.

It is possible to overcome Revenge Sleep Procrastination. You can catch up on social media and your favorite shows at the end of the day. But when catching up at night becomes a habit, it can get in the way of your sleeping schedule. Not getting the right amount of sleep can leave you feeling sluggish, slow and exhausted.

Revenge sleep procrastination is a behavior that can be rectified by putting into practice the practices mentioned above. Fortunately, it is not a sleep disorder.

Your body cannot get used to just a few hours of sleep every night as it is believed. Do the best you can to recognize your mistakes and make sure you get the good quality sleep you deserve!