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The psychology behind ‘revenge bedtime procrastination’

bbc.com

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Re: The psychology behind ‘revenge bedtime procrastination’

#71

Post by prower »

SamBam wrote: post #50
Sharlin wrote: post #35

I mean, "me time" is not optional. How can life even be worth living if it's just a cycle of work and sleep?

That's very true. However, the activities described in the article -- "Rao would stay up surfing the internet, reading the news and watching online videos until well after midnight" -- don't sound like the kind of quality "me time" that makes life more worth living. I say this as someone trapped in a similar cycle. My wife and I are exhausted after both working from home and pandemic parenting/homeschooling every day…

You can't seriously expect to come to night exausted and sleep-deprived, only to be "productive". I don't want to be productive, I want to empty my mind of responsiblities and serious stuff, even if that means shooting aliens in my underwear for no benefit at all.

Actually, the "no benefit at all" is the entire point.

Re: The psychology behind ‘revenge bedtime procrastination’

#72

Post by nubb »

umvi wrote: post #63
throwawayyipyip wrote: post #57

It may raise eyebrows, but with the current WFH culture, I simply take naps during work time. If I feel tired, then it's in my and my employers' best interest for me to nap since I will be much more productive for the next few hours. I've tested this also by not sleeping, and my code becomes worse and I need to rewrite a lot of it anyway. In fairness, I do try to go to bed on time, but my issue is that I sometimes on…

I'm not sure I completely agree with this logic because you are saying "if I neglect in personal time, then it is in my and my employer's best interests for me to address during work time (because otherwise I will be less productive)" However, X could be a wide range of things. To use an extreme example, I could neglect fixing my furnace during personal time, and thus I can do it on my employer's dime so that I don't…

The key to making the parent post make sense is to not think of time as personal/work time. My job is 100% project based so I don’t need to be owned by my job during the 9-5 hours. If I nap all day and work nights and my projects all complete, who cares? I understand not all roles fit this model.

Re: The psychology behind ‘revenge bedtime procrastination’

#73

Post by mellavora »

strangegecko wrote: post #33
eru wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tried stimulants?

I haven't done a long-term trial. The only things that are legally available here are ritalin and modafinil (only if you have narcolepsy). I tried 5mg of ritalin 2 or 3 times, it made me work and think faster and with more focus, but it also felt jittery and I'm not sure it was all that pleasurable. So based on that and on worries about causing more long-term damage I haven't tried to take it longer. Maybe I should t…

yes, and watch that stuff. I'll give you that for the first few times you actually were working and thinking faster (i.e. it wasn't subjective), but that goes away after a few weeks, at which point you might find yourself addicted.

They may be good for a short term boost, but they do not provide any long-term gain.

Re: The psychology behind ‘revenge bedtime procrastination’

#74

Post by glasss »

umvi wrote: post #63
throwawayyipyip wrote: post #57

It may raise eyebrows, but with the current WFH culture, I simply take naps during work time. If I feel tired, then it's in my and my employers' best interest for me to nap since I will be much more productive for the next few hours. I've tested this also by not sleeping, and my code becomes worse and I need to rewrite a lot of it anyway. In fairness, I do try to go to bed on time, but my issue is that I sometimes on…

I'm not sure I completely agree with this logic because you are saying "if I neglect in personal time, then it is in my and my employer's best interests for me to address during work time (because otherwise I will be less productive)" However, X could be a wide range of things. To use an extreme example, I could neglect fixing my furnace during personal time, and thus I can do it on my employer's dime so that I don't…

I think I agree with their logic more than I would have thought on my own.

I would be less productive at work if I were stressing out about a personal item that I would normally handle during "personal time". I've had fantastic employees have horrible weeks / months because they refused to take a few days off to deal with personal items.

As an employer, I would definitely say it is in my best long term interest to have an employee who is happy and doesn't have problems at home. If that means someone I'm paying 6 figures needs every Friday off for a few months then so be it. Or in this case, taking a nap whenever they need to, provided it's not a 4 hour nap everyday at 1 PM.

Re: The psychology behind ‘revenge bedtime procrastination’

#75

Post by crispyambulance »

I've found it helpful to wake up at the same (early) time everyday no matter what and then rely on my body to "tell me" when it's time for sleep. This keeps me lined up on a steady circadian rhythm. If it gets disrupted, that's OK, it snaps back in day or two as long as I stick to the same wake-up time.

It's much harder to do this with a prescribed "bed time" if you're not ready, it's really hard to sleep.

Re: The psychology behind ‘revenge bedtime procrastination’

#76

Post by saalweachter »

fatnoah wrote: post #51
drewcon wrote: post #48

Sounds like they're just behaving like parents with young kids. I routinely stay up too late just to have some quiet, waking conscious alone time after a full day of work and time with the kids (which are now hopelessly intertwined).

>Sounds like they're just behaving like parents with young kids. That was my thought as well. After the wife and kid (not so young now) get to bed is when I actually get quiet time to myself, which I need to unwind from the day. It's actually gotten much worse due to WFH. My daily commute (via transit) provided some of that quiet time to gear up in the morning and unwind in the evening.

I'm hoping to do my 90 minute train commute twice a week after this is all over.

Re: The psychology behind ‘revenge bedtime procrastination’

#77

Post by egypturnash »

umvi wrote: post #63
throwawayyipyip wrote: post #57

It may raise eyebrows, but with the current WFH culture, I simply take naps during work time. If I feel tired, then it's in my and my employers' best interest for me to nap since I will be much more productive for the next few hours. I've tested this also by not sleeping, and my code becomes worse and I need to rewrite a lot of it anyway. In fairness, I do try to go to bed on time, but my issue is that I sometimes on…

I'm not sure I completely agree with this logic because you are saying "if I neglect in personal time, then it is in my and my employer's best interests for me to address during work time (because otherwise I will be less productive)" However, X could be a wide range of things. To use an extreme example, I could neglect fixing my furnace during personal time, and thus I can do it on my employer's dime so that I don't…

If you were in an office then your employer - or the building's landlord - would arrange for someone to fix the furnace. But your employer has now commandeered your home as your workspace during the pandemic. It's probably seeing a lot more wear and tear because of this. Are they going to pay someone to come out and fix your furnace? Probably not.

Re: The psychology behind ‘revenge bedtime procrastination’

#78

Post by m463 »

throwawayyipyip wrote: post #57

It may raise eyebrows, but with the current WFH culture, I simply take naps during work time. If I feel tired, then it's in my and my employers' best interest for me to nap since I will be much more productive for the next few hours. I've tested this also by not sleeping, and my code becomes worse and I need to rewrite a lot of it anyway. In fairness, I do try to go to bed on time, but my issue is that I sometimes on…

I do that sometimes, but I found I have to set an alarm, like 20 minutes. If not I end up feeling like my head is made of cement.

Re: The psychology behind ‘revenge bedtime procrastination’

#79

Post by coldtea »

>“I was almost depressed,” she says. “I was deprived of all my personal life.” After her shift, which sometimes included overtime, she had a small window to eat, shower and go to bed – but she sacrificed sleep to eke out some personal time. Often, Rao would stay up surfing the internet, reading the news and watching online videos until well after midnight.

Same here. There's not much "psychology" mystery to it, humans are not robots, we need some fun/me/entertainment/wind-down/-time, not just to sleep, work, and eat.

Re: The psychology behind ‘revenge bedtime procrastination’

#80

Post by snegu »

umvi wrote: post #2

I find myself doing this too. My kids put such a large constraint on my free time that between work and family I only have 3 hours or less per day to do everything, so I am tempted to sacrifice sleep to gain a bit more book reading, side project, or video game time.

From just reading the headline, I thought this article was going to be about little kids refusing to go to bed! I get so frustrated when my toddler won't go to sleep, exactly because it cuts into that precious free time.
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