Self-regulation
Why do we put off going to bed?
Open access · cc by · source: Europe PMC
People who generally struggle with self-control are more likely to delay going to bed, which directly leads to getting less sleep and feeling more tired during the day.
Key findings
They found that bedtime procrastination was strongly associated with poorer sleep outcomes, accounting for significant variance in hours of sleep, daytime fatigue, and experienced sleep insufficiency even after controlling for demographics and general self-regulation. Specifically, bedtime procrastination was negatively correlated with hours of sleep and positively correlated with daytime fatigue and subjective sleep insufficiency. Additionally, bedtime procrastination showed a strong positive correlation of 0.60 with general procrastination, indicating they are related but distinct concepts.
Methodology
The researchers surveyed an online sample recruited through Amazon Mechanical Turk. After excluding individuals with sleep disorders or night shift schedules, they analyzed data from 177 participants. Participants completed self-report questionnaires measuring their bedtime procrastination, general procrastination, sleep outcomes, and self-regulation traits.
Limitations
Because this study used a cross-sectional design, it cannot prove that bedtime procrastination causes poor sleep; it is possible that being tired reduces self-control, leading to more procrastination. Additionally, the data rely entirely on subjective self-reports rather than objective measures like sleep trackers, which may introduce recall bias. Finally, the sample was self-selected from an online marketplace, meaning the findings might not perfectly represent the broader general population.
How this study connects
Role on claims
Each row is a claim on a concept or method page where this paper supports, challenges, or qualifies the statement. Roles are hand-checked — not a model guess.
Lower levels of general self-regulation are closely linked to bedtime procrastination, directly leading to less overall sleep, heightened daytime fatigue, and subjective sleep insufficiency.
Evidence for the claim as stated.
Related papers in this topic
Same topic cluster — not a recommendation engine.