5 Signs You're a Revenge Bedtime Procrastinator

1.     Abbreviating or eliminating your morning self-care routine

2.     Scrolling on your phone at night

3.     Nighttime binge watching

4.     Not going to sleep with your partner

5.     Chronic sleep deprivation

What is RBP?

The term Revenge Bedtime Procrastination (RBP) was popularized through Twitter in 2020, roughly translated from Chinese as, “revengeful staying up late at night.”

How do you know it’s not a sleep disorder?

As soon as your head hits the pillow, you fall asleep.

What’s the ‘revenge’ part?

It’s an attempt to capture “me” time for especially stressed over-worked people.

“I hate being told what to do,” one doctor recently told me.

RBP is rebellious nature: “You can’t make me go to bed.” “I get to do what I want.”

You stubbornly protect your time against all pleas from others to go to bed.

How do you cure it?

Create a bedtime routine:

1.     Make time to wind down

2.     Put your phone away after a certain time

3.     Consider putting it in another room altogether

4.     Make your room a sleeping room: sex and sleep only

5.     Dim the lights

It’s no fun adulting all the time. Being an ultra-grownup all day, with little autonomy and no down-time is exhausting. When so you get your time? For many, nighttime is the only time. But the cost is steep. Sleep deprivation is linked increased rates of accidents, diminished patience, lower resistance to disease, weight gain, poor food choices (higher sugar, carbs and caffeine). The list goes on.

You know it’s bad for you. But it feels so good. So when can you get your time wasting in — without cutting into your self-care?

1.     Schedule wasting time to earlier

2.     Put a timer on your scrolling

3.     Reframe ‘have to’ to ‘get to’

5.     What other ways can you indulge yourself?

 The bigger question is: What is RBP telling you? What are the bigger changes you need to make in your life?