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Photo source: pixabay sent this Wechat and then I went to bed. Wait a minute. I'll take another look at moments. Now that you have all picked up your cell phones, take a quick look at a few Weibo posts. In this way, an hour passed in the twinkling of an eye, sometimes even two or three hours, and I had missed the planned bedtime.

Is this description familiar to you? In fact, this phenomenon has been called "bedtime procrastination" several years ago, which delays a person's bedtime and often leads to lack of sleep. In 2014, Flor M., a Dutch social and behavioral scientist. Floor M.Kroese used the name "bedtime procrastination" for the first time and formally defined it as: first, taking the initiative to procrastinate going to bed; second, staying up late for no reasonable reason; and third, being aware that such procrastination may have adverse consequences.

Of course, this procrastination is not necessarily the result of playing with your mobile phone. It can also happen while watching TV or computer, such as watching TV series one episode after another before going to bed, or indulging in video games. In theory, many other activities also make people do not want to go to sleep, such as reading or exercise. However, after the advent of televisions, mobile phones and computers, the phenomenon of bedtime procrastination became particularly obvious. As a result, experts believe that the advent of electronic products and the resulting variety of forms of entertainment have made a significant contribution to bedtime procrastination.

In the absence of clear research, the frequency of bedtime procrastination is still unclear. But one of the studies on the phenomenon, a 2014 paper published by Kleitzer and her colleagues, at least shows that bedtime procrastination is very common. Their survey in the Netherlands found that many people feel tired during the day at least two days a week. A large percentage of respondents who went to bed later than planned at least one day a week thought the procrastination was already a behavioral problem.

Data from the United States show that it is not just the Dutch who procrastinate before going to bed. In addition, a study by Jana K ü hnel, a psychologist at the University of Vienna (University of Vienna), and two of her colleagues published in Frontiers in Psychology in 2018 showed that bedtime procrastination is also common in Germany, where the frequency of people staying up late is similar to that of Dutch subjects. But there is no need to jump to conclusions. Quinnell explains that the population sample in the study is not very representative.

Photo Source: although pixabay requires different amounts of sleep, experts recommend that adults get 7-9 hours of sleep a night. By comparison, nearly half of Germans over the age of 18 get too little sleep, according to a 2021 Statista Global Consumer Survey of 1000 people: about 2% of respondents sleep an average of 5-7 hours on weekdays, 15% get 7-8 hours, and only 3% sleep more than 8 hours on weekdays. In a statement issued in March, the German Child Health Foundation (Child Health Foundation) said that the recommended sleep time for teenagers between the ages of 12 and 17 is 8 to 10 hours, but the foundation is concerned about the chronic lack of sleep among German teenagers in this age group.

The reasons for too little sleep vary from person to person. According to the German Sleep Institute (German Sleep Society,DGSM), 20% of Germans have trouble falling asleep occasionally and 30% of Germans have chronic sleep disorders. For other sleep-deprived people, there may be other factors that affect their sleep, including factors such as staying up late. In a 2017 German survey, the most frequently mentioned reason for staying up late was the use of media at night. Given that these people themselves want to go to bed early, their behavior is actually procrastination before going to bed.

Bedtime procrastination is sometimes referred to as "retaliatory bedtime procrastination" (or vengeance staying up late), which is a saying in China. But Quinel advises against mixing "bedtime procrastination" with "retaliatory bedtime procrastination". She believes that retaliatory bedtime procrastination is not procrastination. Procrastination means putting off necessary and urgent tasks, such as cleaning and writing papers, while choosing to do other things that are not a priority, such as playing games or watching TV. Instead, Quinel believes that "retaliatory bedtime procrastination" is a deliberate delay in bedtime, so the word procrastination does not apply here. The description of "retaliation" has been added, perhaps because under the intense pace of work, delaying bedtime has become the only way for people to take control of their lives.

What makes it so difficult to go to bed early due to lack of self-control? Bedtime procrastination may also have something to do with personality. For example, in a 2014 paper, Kleitzer and her colleagues found a link between bedtime procrastination and self-control: people with poor self-regulation (self-regulation) had more bedtime procrastination.

In addition, the researchers found that people who procrastinate before going to bed are also more likely to put off other things. In Procrastination, Health, and Well-Being, published in 2016, Kleitzer and her colleagues offer the simplest explanation for this phenomenon-low self-control is an underlying personality trait. Low self-control can cause people to procrastinate tedious tasks and fail to complete interesting activities. Many books and journals have mentioned the concept of lack of self-control and regard it as the main cause of bedtime procrastination.

If self-regulation fails, there will be a "will-behavior gap", that is, a difference between individual will and actual behavior. This often occurs in behaviors that are good for health, such as people who want to exercise more, eat healthier or quit smoking, but fail to do so. In this context, scientists have studied the "intention-behavior gap" for many times.

The effect of circadian rhythm however, not all scientists believe that procrastination before bedtime is just a matter of self-control. In a study published in 2018 in the journal Frontiers of Psychology, Quinel and two of her colleagues surveyed 108 employees from different industries to explore the effects of self-control on bedtime procrastination. The three psychologists also analyzed another factor-the circadian rhythm, or chronotype, of the interviewees.

The results show that night owls are more likely to procrastinate before going to bed than early birds. "Night people who need to get up early to work are forced to adapt to the schedule of morning people," Quinel said. "but night people don't feel sleepy until later, so it's more difficult for them to go to bed early." This makes night people experience bedtime procrastination more frequently. "our findings refute the popular theory that bedtime procrastination is not just the result of a lack of self-control," Quinell said.

Image: in pixabay2019 year, two Polish researchers tried to find other factors that may contribute to bedtime procrastination. They found that individuals' bedtime procrastination was not significantly associated with their place of residence, education, study or work, or family roles (such as living with a partner or children), but women were more likely to delay going to bed than men.

Serious consequences from a clinical point of view, bedtime procrastination is not always problematic, only those who lack sleep for a long time will be seriously affected their health. If you sleep too little at night, the most immediate consequence is listlessness, lack of concentration, and poor physical and mental performance the next day. What is more serious is the long-term effect: long-term sleep deprivation increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, obesity, diabetes and depression.

The study also found that even mild sleep deprivation can damage the immune system. At the same time, enough sleep can make teenagers' brains develop normally, and too little sleep can lead to long-term cognitive problems. In addition, lack of sleep reduces self-control, which makes people more likely to procrastinate, creating a vicious circle.

The study found that a high proportion of depressive symptoms among Chinese college students may also be associated with bedtime procrastination. A 2020 Chinese study found that people with depressive symptoms were significantly more likely to delay sleeping than those who did not. This association is more pronounced in people with severe depressive symptoms.

A 2021 study in China found that excessive use of smartphones significantly exacerbated bedtime procrastination and was associated with sleep quality and depressive symptoms. Another study in the same year showed that students addicted to mobile phones were more likely to suffer from depression and anxiety and were more likely to procrastinate before going to bed. Among them, people with lower self-control are more easily affected by this.

Keep your actions and intentions consistent, so what do you do when the next episode of a show beckons to you in the middle of the night, or when news keeps pouring in on your phone? "you don't have to set a goal of sleeping eight hours a night or going to bed before 12:00," Ms. Kleitzer and her colleagues write in the book. Sensible interventions should match people's actions and intentions. To do so, the most important thing is to acknowledge the adverse effects of staying up late. The researchers suggest that people should be more aware of the consequences of lack of sleep on their physical and mental health. Many people sleep less and often feel tired, but do not realize that going to bed early is a solution. For such people, they should be reminded that a simple change such as going to bed early will have a very positive impact on them.

Kleitzer also advises bedtime procrastinators to think about their evening routine and sleep preferences. For example, ask yourself what time you want to go to bed and what else you plan to do before then. In this way, you can set specific goals to ensure bedtime.

In addition, there is evidence that healthy sleep hygiene (sleep hygiene) habits can also help people go to bed on time, such as staying away from stimulating activities before going to bed and maintaining a regular sleep-awakening rhythm. These habits also apply to people with sleep disorders, such as insomnia or waking up frequently at night.

Setting clear rules for yourself can also help: for example, banning the use of cell phones in the bedroom, or turning off all electronic entertainment devices and lights after a certain period of time. In addition, temptation can be reduced when designing the environment, such as computers only in the study, televisions only in the living room, and so on. Psychotherapists also recommend setting aside space during the day to relax and do what you enjoy so as to avoid staying up late at night to make up for it. Unhealthy entertainment time will make you pay the price the next day, and the price will become higher and higher in the long run.

So turn off the TV, put away your phone, close your eyes and go to bed on time from today.

Original text link:

Https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/it-goes-by-the-name-bedtime-procrastination-and-you-can-probably-guess-what-it-is/

This article comes from the official account of Wechat: global Science (ID:huanqiukexue), written by: Janosch Deeg, translated by Meng Fanqiong, revised by Chestnut

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