CLEVELAND — Anyone spending the evening hours on social media, watching Netflix, or even online shopping, may be guilty of revenge bedtime procrastination.
Cleveland Clinic Psychologist Dr. Susan Albers said it occurs when people have little control of their daytime hours and try to get that “me time” in at night instead of just going to bed.
“While many people experience insomnia and wake up frequently during the night…bedtime procrastination is much different. It is actively choosing not to go to bed even when that little voice in your head says, ‘I’m tired. I need to go to sleep.’ You ignore it,” Albers said.
Albers said working from home during the pandemic plays a large role.
“Working from home during the pandemic has blurred the lines between work and home life — that line is nearly invisible,” Albers said. ‘So for many people, they have to regain some kind of balance in their day so that they have time to relax and unwind instead of sacrificing sleep to win back that time.”
She said there is an epidemic of people who are sleep-deprived.
“According to the National Sleep Foundation, we need approximately 7.1 hours of sleep every night to feel good and energized the next day,” Albers said. “Seventy-three percent of adults fall short of this on a daily basis. Basically, many of us are walking around like zombies.”
She said that sleep deprivation may have major consequences.
“We experienced higher incidence of health issues, mental health issues. And basically, feeling low energy, mental fog, and difficulty functioning throughout the day when we don’t get enough sleep,” Albers said.
Albers said one of the best things to do is give the phone a “bedtime.”
“Tuck your phone in at night. The blue light from your phone has been clinically shown to produce chemicals in the brain that actually keep you up. So mindlessly scrolling is actually working against you,” she said.
Albers said a sleep schedule doesn’t need to be perfect, but it does need to be a priority.
She said the next time someone is going to watch just one more episode — think of the benefits of going to sleep now: better mental clarity, making better food decisions, and feeling more energized the next day.
