This is NPR's life kit. I'm Maria Codoy. My days often feel like they're bursting at

the scenes between work, caring for my kids, doing the dishes, and all the other things

that it takes to keep my house from falling into utter chaos, it can be hard to find time

to properly unwind. So at the end of my day, I find myself getting into bed, picking up

my phone, and just scrolling, and scrolling, and I keep going, despiping, so exhausted,

and knowing it'd be better off if I just went to sleep. When I do that, I'm participating

in something called Revenge Bedtime Procrastination. The idea became popular in 2020 after journalist

Stephanie Kay Lee tweeted a translation of a Chinese term. And according to Lauren Whitehurst,

a psychology professor at the University of Kentucky, and a sleep researcher, it's about

more than losing sleep. It's really a commentary on the fact that our days are so packed and

we value productivity so much that we pack our days and we do that because that's kind

of societal expectations for us. Think of it this way. I know after busy day, the logical

thing to do is get rest. But Lauren says, once we get that little bit of time to ourselves,

we're like, man, these sweet moments where I just get to do something for myself and

I'm not doing everything based out of societal expectations. But those allegedly sweet

moments have us paying a price. On this episode of LifeKit, strategies to help combat

revenge bedtime procrastination and reclaim some of those precious zes. Let's start off

by asking you to define Revenge Bedtime Procrastination. What is it exactly? It's not just

staying up late, is it? It's not. It's also a response to what you get to do during your

day. It's really kind of associated with individuals who have a lot of obligations that they

can't move, they can't shift, they can't control their schedule. Often it's those folks

who have an experience of revenge bedtime procrastination at night.

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