Staying Up Late A Lot Might Mean You’re Affected By Revenge Bedtime Procrastination, And This Twitter User Went Viral For Explaining Why
There’s a chance that you are reading this from the comfort of your bed and and maybe at least one or a few times, you have found yourself staying up late although you’re tired and had a long day. Apparently, this is an actual phenomenon called revenge bedtime procrastination where you put off going to bed so that you have your own ‘me time’ within your busy days. And you may not have heard about it before, but you might be affected by it if you tend to stay up later than actually necessary.
This condition got the attention of a Twitter user that shared it in a post, often finding herself delaying going to sleep or waking up early in order to have more time just for herself. Let us know if this has ever happened or happens to you in the comments below!
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Turns out that being busy during the day and then being up until very late in the night could be a thing called revenge bedtime procrastination
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Image credits: abbiehive
Image credits: abbiehive
So if your day is pretty busy, filled to the brim with various tasks, the hours seem to vanish, and you find yourself out of time to actually do what you really like (or you think you should do), then you are trying to make up for lost time and denying yourself sleep so you can spend it on the stuff that you wanted to do (to take “revenge” on the daytime hours). Since the pandemic started and ran pretty much everyone in the world through some stress and altered working conditions, home life, and even habits, people on social media decided to find out what exactly is happening. As scary as it sounds, approximately 40% of adults reported having troubles with their sleep. But revenge bedtime procrastination was around before the pandemic and people have just started paying attention to their sleep health recently.
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The response to Twitter user @abbiehive’s post was impressive as it got over 543.8K likes and 95K retweets. Some users shared pictographs that explain revenge bedtime procrastination, and some noted that the phenomena is common among people who have ADHD. One user was surprised that there is a name to describe not wanting to go to bed and he also admitted to having the thought process that if he doesn’t go to sleep, the day will never end. Another person with autism shared that they do something similar, figuring out that they need to “decompress” before he can actually sleep. Also, some people admitted to feeling guilty for not sleeping enough and then waking up tired the next day.
The Twitter post shared by @abbiehive got a lot of attention and many comments as people were sharing personal experiences with their conditions and with what possibly is revenge bedtime procrastination
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Sleep patterns differ from person to person; for example, busy mothers of a few kids might want to just have some quiet time and check out social media, or if your day is extremely organized, all you want to do is to watch an episode of your favorite TV show at the end of the day. So all of the activities done during revenge bedtime procrastination are usually easy things that are easy to enjoy. The procrastination comes from lack of free time throughout the day and not being able to do things just for simple pleasure.
Some users were sharing that they think they might have ADHD or some strange thought processes
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There are suggestions that maintaining your sleep hygiene might help keep you from falling for revenge bedtime procrastination. So keeping up a consistent sleep schedule, adding resting, if possible, to your schedule, and even making time for the things and people you appreciate the most might be some of the points to assist in fighting the need to put off sleeping.
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There were comments explaining that some people’s revenge bedtime procrastination is due to the lockdowns and the only private time that can be had
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And some people looked at the phenomenon through a satirical lens
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And finally, some caught themselves asking some questions we all might have at some point if suffering from revenge bedtime procrastination
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Holy s**t! That's exactly what I'm doing!! I thought I was just weird doing it. Suddenly the pieces are coming together.
Me reading this while doing it: "omg, I knew there was an explanation..."
Load More Replies...
Do we really need to pathologize everything? (The OP did not, but many of the cited commenters.) Staying up late because you felt you had no "me time" that day, yet, merely is a normal move. Moreover, you may check the natural biorythm vs the one you are living. I, for example, are rather the "owl" type and I will often be productive after 22:00 even if I know I need to get up early the next day and have been tired all day. I deem this just, well, how it is.
It appears there is a pathological phenomenon: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00611/full However, I do not think that this generally applies to getting "me time" in the evenings.
Load More Replies...
I posted my " Very long story short"-not because I am trying to get "boo-hoo sympathy points"- but because I know there has to be just one person, at least, out there, who fights going to bed at night, who has bad control issues, @ happens to be stubborn which makes it worse.The part I hate most, for me, is feeling like s**t and beating myself up , over and over again, because I failed. Again. I cannot stop doing this. I can not control it, or control myself-and that's ironic, because that's why I started" sleep procrastination/revenge", subconsciously, at first, anyway. But if you think you may need some help with this, like I know I do, we are not admitting defeat by asking for help! We are beating it, by asking for help! I am making that phone call tomorrow( it's 2am or I'd do it now) Just imagine, finally getting some relief!!
As you are writing I feel like you are writing about me! I have always struggled, even as a young teen, and I still struggle now. I'm tired right now because I stayed up till the wee hours last night (like normal) desperately avoiding tomorrow and hating myself for not getting rest, why can't I just go to sleep and stop being silly?! It's a head trap, I thought I was weird and broken, but I read your story and I feel more normal knowing it isn't just me
Load More Replies...
:'D I literally do this. I stay up cause I get to just..really do the things I can't do during the day like watch youtube, read webtoon or just...lie down and do nothing.I end up staying up till 1-4 and then sleep till 11...but only on weekend, I do thins :) not during the week cause of work and stuff
I'm trying to do the opposite...get to sleep earlier (never have fallen asleep before 11, no matter how tired and long I've been in bed). My dream? To wake refreshed at 5am, get ready, and enjoy the only quiet time this apartment building has...before 7 am. Also, yes, ADHD makes me feel like I failed to be productive. However, if I begin before my mom wakes, I get A LOT more done, and am more willing to do stuff like dishes
I've actually found myself doing this less often with Covid social distancing. I work from home and got my commute time back, so I have a little more quiet time. The caregiving thing is for real, though. I care for an elderly relative and the worse the day is with them, the more likely I am to procrastinate sleep.
My problem is that I can be dead tired all day long, then 9 pm rolls along and BING! I'm AWAKE! Takes me ages to fall asleep if I go to bed before 2 am. Luckily I can decide my own hours.
i do it because why not i feel like absolute shi! in the morning anyway and no one is yelling at me because i didn't do chores or homework the right way i usaly go to bed at 2:00 4:00 am i have been doing it since 11
Another Disease for another normal human condition that shouldn't be compartmentalized as a "disorder". The scientific consensus on ADHD is about 90% of cases are normal human beings with neurotic parents who can't (or won't) control thier kids. Alot of people stay up late because we can. It doesn't need a new name, the old one of 'i like quiet' is real and explanatory enough.
Holy s**t! That's exactly what I'm doing!! I thought I was just weird doing it. Suddenly the pieces are coming together.
Me reading this while doing it: "omg, I knew there was an explanation..."
Load More Replies... Do we really need to pathologize everything? (The OP did not, but many of the cited commenters.) Staying up late because you felt you had no "me time" that day, yet, merely is a normal move. Moreover, you may check the natural biorythm vs the one you are living. I, for example, are rather the "owl" type and I will often be productive after 22:00 even if I know I need to get up early the next day and have been tired all day. I deem this just, well, how it is.
It appears there is a pathological phenomenon: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00611/full However, I do not think that this generally applies to getting "me time" in the evenings.
Load More Replies... I posted my " Very long story short"-not because I am trying to get "boo-hoo sympathy points"- but because I know there has to be just one person, at least, out there, who fights going to bed at night, who has bad control issues, @ happens to be stubborn which makes it worse.The part I hate most, for me, is feeling like s**t and beating myself up , over and over again, because I failed. Again. I cannot stop doing this. I can not control it, or control myself-and that's ironic, because that's why I started" sleep procrastination/revenge", subconsciously, at first, anyway. But if you think you may need some help with this, like I know I do, we are not admitting defeat by asking for help! We are beating it, by asking for help! I am making that phone call tomorrow( it's 2am or I'd do it now) Just imagine, finally getting some relief!!
As you are writing I feel like you are writing about me! I have always struggled, even as a young teen, and I still struggle now. I'm tired right now because I stayed up till the wee hours last night (like normal) desperately avoiding tomorrow and hating myself for not getting rest, why can't I just go to sleep and stop being silly?! It's a head trap, I thought I was weird and broken, but I read your story and I feel more normal knowing it isn't just me
Load More Replies... :'D I literally do this. I stay up cause I get to just..really do the things I can't do during the day like watch youtube, read webtoon or just...lie down and do nothing.I end up staying up till 1-4 and then sleep till 11...but only on weekend, I do thins :) not during the week cause of work and stuff
I'm trying to do the opposite...get to sleep earlier (never have fallen asleep before 11, no matter how tired and long I've been in bed). My dream? To wake refreshed at 5am, get ready, and enjoy the only quiet time this apartment building has...before 7 am. Also, yes, ADHD makes me feel like I failed to be productive. However, if I begin before my mom wakes, I get A LOT more done, and am more willing to do stuff like dishes
I've actually found myself doing this less often with Covid social distancing. I work from home and got my commute time back, so I have a little more quiet time. The caregiving thing is for real, though. I care for an elderly relative and the worse the day is with them, the more likely I am to procrastinate sleep.
My problem is that I can be dead tired all day long, then 9 pm rolls along and BING! I'm AWAKE! Takes me ages to fall asleep if I go to bed before 2 am. Luckily I can decide my own hours.
i do it because why not i feel like absolute shi! in the morning anyway and no one is yelling at me because i didn't do chores or homework the right way i usaly go to bed at 2:00 4:00 am i have been doing it since 11
Another Disease for another normal human condition that shouldn't be compartmentalized as a "disorder". The scientific consensus on ADHD is about 90% of cases are normal human beings with neurotic parents who can't (or won't) control thier kids. Alot of people stay up late because we can. It doesn't need a new name, the old one of 'i like quiet' is real and explanatory enough.
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