I know staying up late is bad, but why can't I help myself? 4 tips from West China Psychology experts to help you sleep well tonight!

"I must go to bed early tonight."

Are there many people who firmly set this goal before going to bed?

When I turned off my phone and prepared to take a nap, my head suddenly became clear as soon as it touched the pillow:

"Isn't it a bit of a waste of time to go to bed so early? Let's play for a while, I promise, just for a while...

”

Instantly! Collapse!

It feels good to set a flag, but it will make you slap in the face!

▽

I know staying up late is bad.

Why can't you help it?

Speaking of the disadvantages of staying up late, even non-loyal readers of Dr. Huaxi can easily name a few:

Getting fat

disfigure

Become stupid

Endocrine disorders

Cancer risk up

…

But what does it matter? Even if the person beside you is snoring loudly, even if your eyelids are fighting, even if you have to go to work with dark circles under your eyes the next day, you still have to stay up all night!

Kang Yukun from the Mental Health Center of West China Hospital of Sichuan University and He Tanhaosheng, Wang Liying, Chen Weihao and Zhou Di, the 2021 five-year clinical medicine students of West China School of Clinical Medicine of Sichuan University, tell you:

This behavior of habitually delaying the scheduled bedtime without any external factors, insomnia, or difficulty falling asleep, and being able to choose freely, is typical:

Sleep Procrastination

Why do we still stay up late even though we know we should go to bed early and it is bad for our health? There are three explanations for sleep procrastination:

The first one: Deliberate procrastination

Literally, it means deliberately staying up late. In fact, we think it is more like a kind of psychological compensation, because only those few hours at night can be controlled by ourselves as we please. (We have to work willingly during the day)

The second type: blind procrastination

To put it bluntly, they are too absorbed in what they are doing before going to bed (such as watching TV, drawing, playing games, etc.). They only want to do it for a while, but once they start, they can't stop and forget the time, but they still want to go to bed on time.

The last one is more advanced: strategic procrastination

This means that they deliberately postpone going to bed occasionally or regularly, because they feel that even if they go to bed early, they will not be able to fall asleep, so it is better to hypnotize themselves: if they go to bed later, they will be able to fall asleep more easily...

You know what, this method might really be effective for them.

Where are you on the sleep procrastination spectrum?

9 questions self-test

So what do these people who refuse to sleep usually do?

Apart from the hardworking postgraduate entrance exam candidates, most people are doing nothing: watching short videos, browsing shopping apps, browsing Weibo, browsing Moments, listening to books, etc. And the younger they are, the more people stay up late.

Statistics show that 52.5% of young people are greedy for the night and actively join the army of staying up late.

Are you one of those who stay up late at night? What you say doesn't count. Here are 9 questions to answer to see if you have "sleep procrastination" and to what extent.

1

I went to bed later than I planned.

2

If I have to wake up early, I go to bed early.

3

Usually by the time it’s time to go to bed I’m still doing other things.

4

If it's time to turn off the lights at night, I will turn them off immediately.

5

When I’m trying to go to bed, I can easily get distracted by other things.

6

I have a regular bedtime.

7

I didn't go to bed on time.

8

When it’s time to go to bed, I can easily end my other activities.

9

I wanted to sleep but I just didn't.

Scoring Rules:

Use 1 (almost never) to 5 (almost always) to rate the grade. The scores of questions 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9 are your grade score; the scores of questions 2, 4, 6, and 8 are the opposite of the grade score, that is, 1 (almost never) gets 5 points, and 5 (always) gets 1 point.

When you have finished all the questions, add up the scores for each question and divide by 9 to calculate the average score for each question.

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Try these proven methods

“ In fact, many people with “sleep procrastination” have thought about changing. As mentioned at the beginning, they have set countless goals, but they just fall down…

"Therefore, many friends who see this are naturally waiting for doctors from West China to come up with some serious and practical solutions.

Huaxi doctors have collected and summarized some of the experiences of senior "sleep procrastination" patients in improving sleep. I hope it will be useful to you~

If you want to go to bed early, get up early

It's a bit like "fighting poison with poison". If you really can't go to bed early, just get up early in the morning . This way , you will naturally feel sleepy and want to sleep at night.

If you stick to it for a long time and develop a habit of getting up early, you will go to bed unconsciously at night, and going to bed early will not be so difficult.

Image source: Internet

Do something serious with a sense of ceremony

As mentioned before, those who stay up late are usually doing useless things, so we might as well do some ritualistic activities before going to bed .

For example, taking a bath, reading some books that interest you but do not excite your brain, or planning what you want to do and what you want to prepare for the next day, etc., can achieve the purpose of relaxing your mind, meet your physiological needs for sleep , and improve your sleep quality.

Reduce online temptations

Of course, the biggest obstacle to going to bed early is the mobile phone! It is impossible to go to bed early with a mobile phone in hand. Therefore, it is recommended to stay away from electronic products half an hour before going to bed . If it is difficult not to use the mobile phone, you should also avoid playing games, watching TV series and other activities that are easy to immerse yourself.

If you have poor self-control, you can motivate yourself through external forces such as setting an alarm clock, checking in with family and friends, and supervising each other .

Actively seek appropriate satisfaction

We have said that most "sleep procrastination" is seeking psychological compensation, so it is better to pay more attention to your unmet needs in daily life and actively seek reasonable ways to meet them appropriately.

For example, no matter how busy you are at work during the day, try to create some space for yourself to be alone, to accommodate your emotions, and to be with your true and relaxed self for a while, to satisfy your needs for solitude and emotional regulation, and to avoid developing a compensatory mentality before going to bed and staying up late out of revenge.

It's late at night and it's time to go to bed.

"I must go to bed early tonight!"

"Go to sleep after reading this tweet."

"Just click on "Watching" and go to sleep."

“Repost this to your friends before going to sleep!”

Good night, friends!

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