I am going to sleep. But before that I have to quickly write an info via WhatsApp to my best friend that he is on time tomorrow morning when it goes to the bachelor party. And while I’m at it, I briefly check to see if there’s anything new on Instagram or Twitter. Oh, and the latest statement on combating unemployment from the prime minister is just coming out – I still have to read that quickly.
Do you know this situation from yourself or from your family, friends or colleagues? This phenomenon is called bedtime procrastination. Behind it is the widespread procrastination, in this case in relation to going to bed. Instead of following the brain and sleeping fit for the next day, one hangs on the screen for countless minutes, even up to an hour, in order to ultimately struggle with unnecessary matters. The result is a lack of sleep, which comes about unnecessarily and, in the worst case, can even be the starting point for the future development of a neurodegenerative disease (e.g. Alzheimer’s).
Of course, you don’t necessarily need a cell phone to avoid falling asleep. It’s equally possible to get stuck in front of the TV or computer – for example, because you’re watching one series episode after the next or can’t tear yourself away from a video game. Many other activities can also theoretically prevent people from going to bed, such as reading or exercising. However, the phenomenon has only been increasingly registered since the advent of television, cell phones and computers. Scientifically, it is therefore assumed that electronic devices with their many forms of entertainment have contributed significantly to its development.
More than 70 percent of people are affected by bedtime procrastination. If you may have just caught yourself being one of those people with sleep procrastination, I can tell you that you are not alone. According to initial research, up to 56 percent worldwide are affected by this phenomenon, and almost 75 percent within the EU. One reason for this may be that sufferers have a lack of self-control. In other words, people who had poorer self-regulation also reported more bedtime procrastination. In addition, we discovered that procrastination before going to bed is particularly prevalent among people who also tend to put things off in other ways. This includes people not being able to stop fun activities and devote themselves to the serious tasks.
If self-regulation fails, an intention-behavior gap can occur, i.e., a gap between the intention and the actual behavior. This happens relatively often when it comes to health-promoting behavior – think of people who actually want to exercise more, eat healthier or quit smoking, but fail to do so. Sooner or later, this inevitably leads to irreversible damage in the body, but especially in the brain. And damage to the brain is simply irreversible.
Lack of sleep has serious consequences
From a clinical point of view, bedtime procrastination is not always problematic. Only when the person in question gets too little sleep on a permanent basis as a result of his or her behavior can the phenomenon have health consequences. The effects of too little sleep are most obvious the next day: the person feels tired and unfocused, and is therefore less able to perform both physically and mentally.
However, the long-term effects are even more serious: Permanent sleep deprivation can promote strokes, dementia-related developments such as Alzheimer’s, cardiovascular disease, obesity, diabetes or depression. In addition, recent scientific research shows that even a little sleep deprivation is detrimental to the immune system. Adolescents also need a sufficiently long night’s rest for the brain to develop properly. Too little sleep can lead to cognitive problems for them in the long term. In addition, lack of sleep worsens self-regulation, which can further increase the tendency to procrastination. A vicious circle.
In addition, there is a significant correlation between depressive moods and smartphone use in the evening. More specifically, it’s about the way our subconscious controls our thinking. People who prefer their smartphones to their much more important sleep have a much greater tendency to want to gloss over reality and refuse to allow anything negative to happen. These people are on social media for a much longer time and post pictures of themselves in a beautiful context rather than admitting the reality of a gray, dreary day and communicating it to the outside world. This creates a creeping process of depressive development, which increases in aggressiveness with time and fosters a loss of self-control.
Good sleep hygiene helps
So what do you do when the next episode of a series beckons late at night or so many tempting messages arrive on your cell phone? The goal need not be to get at least eight hours of sleep a night or to always go to bed before midnight. Instead, sensible interventions should help those affected to bring their behavior in line with their intentions. In doing so, it is first important to acknowledge in the first place that going to bed late can have negative effects. In addition, I recommend raising awareness of the consequences of sleep deprivation for health and well-being. While many people report having too short a night’s rest and often being tired, they don’t usually see going to bed earlier as a solution. So people should be reminded that even such a relatively simple change in behavior can have positive effects.
I also recommend thinking about evening routines and sleep preferences. For example, you could ask yourself when you actually want to go to bed and what you plan to do. Based on this, concrete goals can be set at bedtime. Other things to consider include refraining from stimulating activities before going to bed and maintaining a regular sleep-wake rhythm – all things that also work for sleep disorders, where sufferers either find it difficult to fall asleep or wake up frequently and lie awake for long periods of time.
It also makes sense to impose clear rules on yourself. For example, no cell phones in the bedroom or consistently switching off all electronic entertainment media and lights after a certain time. It also helps to generally design the environment in such a way that temptations are not always present – for example, by always leaving the computer in the study or only setting up a TV in the living room. Furthermore, it is advisable to create more free space for enjoyable activities and relaxation during the day so that you don’t have to wait until the evening to reclaim it through excessive screen time. Because the very next day, you pay a price for this form of entertainment that gets higher and higher in the long run. So turn off the TV, put away your cell phone and close your eyes.