Revenge bedtime procrastination

Picture this:

You've had a busy day and didn't have any "me time" throughout your day. Work piles on, and once you're done, it's actually time to sleep. But instead of sleeping, you go on Netflix and browse social media until the wee hours.

Like most behaviours, psychologists have an itch to name it. This is called revenge bedtime procrastination. When you know it's time to sleep, but you procrastinate on it and do fun things instead. You're taking revenge over the fact that you've had a busy day and decided to use your sleep time to watch Netflix.

Then you wake up the next day, realising you screwed yourself over with the lack of sleep. You get even more stressed and continue procrastinating on your sleep and get more sleep-deprived. It becomes a vicious cycle.

If you're facing it, here are some ways to deal with it:

• Sticking to a consistent sleeping and waking up routine. Like how you have an alarm for waking up, set an alarm for bedtime and adhere to it. Shut off all your devices an hour before bedtime so you don't get hooked on the Internet instead of sleeping
• Stop taking caffeine after 2 pm. Caffeine stays in your body for a long time, so having coffee after midday can make it hard for you to sleep at night
• Do something relaxing and fun before bed. Whether it is reading or doing some skincare, do something that you love so that you look forward to going to bed

If you fell to revenge bedtime procrastination, don't feel bad the next day. Be kind to yourself and go to bed earlier to make up for the lost sleep.