Description: What are more sustainable, healthy ways to approach our "off the clock" hours?
Resources:
1. Explore the research on bedtime revenge here.
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Transcription: Hi, and welcome to episode 10 of season three of Self-Care for Educators. I'm your host, Tina Boogren. This week we are going to tackle revenge bedtime procrastination. That's right. Revenge bedtime procrastination. Have you heard this term? If you ... There's ... You can find it kind of all over. I happen to be looking at an article right now. If you just go to sleepfoundation.org. It talks about this. It defines revenge bedtime procrastination. It says this is ... This describes the decision to sacrifice sleep for leisure time that is driven by a daily schedule lacking in free time. It says, for people in high stress jobs that take up the bulk of their day revenge. Bedtime procrastination is a way to find a few hours of entertainment even though it results in insufficient sleep. Here's what this is, you guys. This is, oh my gosh ... I do this, too. So, this is where we know we should be going to bed, but instead we scroll and scroll and scroll.
Here's what we know. What this ... Mentally it makes sense. What we're actually trying to do is like get back control of our time, right? When we finally have a few moments, it's like, Ah, I don't wanna go to bed. I wanna get a little of my time back. And, we just kind of get sucked into the screen, right? So, please, first of all, know you're not alone. This is very, very, very common. People with high stress jobs, people that are very busy, it says women oftentimes are very likely to engage in this. So, you're not alone. If this is like feeling like, whoop, this is you, we know. We know this is a common thing, so, okay, here's, here's basically what I want us to do is number one, like always, we just have to be aware of it to change it. So, if this idea of revenge bedtime procrastination is feeling like you first recognize it, know that you're not alone. And then, let's figure out how to stop it.
For me, it's kind of just the realization that it's happening is my awakening of like, Oh my gosh. Okay. Stop. One of the phrases that I say oftentimes to myself is, Play the tape forward. In other words, when I recognize I'm doing it, and if I play the tape forward in my mind, right? So play this out. If I just keep scrolling, what's gonna happen? Oh, I'm gonna get like six hours of sleep. Play the tape forward. What does my day look like tomorrow then? It's awful, right? So, how just ... See if we can recognize we're doing it. Stop it. Play that tape forward, and make a different decision. Now, at this website--that's sleepfoundation.org. Some other ideas that it says of course it says the best remedy for sleep procrastination is healthy sleep hygiene, which involves creating good sleep habits and environment conducive to sleep. And, it takes a while to get there, right? So, this is the reminder that having these routines helps.
Many of you have heard me talk about decision fatigue, and you know what we ... The antidote to that is making sure that we've got habits and rituals and routines in place, and that comes into play. Ideas like keeping a consistent bedtime and wake up time. Guys, this is really important, even on the weekend, trying to avoid alcohol or caffeine late in the afternoon or evening, and then ideally stopping the use of any sort of electronic devices, like our cell phones, tablets, whatever, for at least half an hour and ideally longer before bed. Just get the scrolling device out of the room. Make it hard, right? Develop a stable routine to use every night to prepare for bed. And, you know, relaxation comes into play here. So, what does your nighttime routine look like? Do you read a book? Can you meditate? Do you stretch? Do you take a bath? What is it that you do? Doesn't involve picking up your phone, right?
We know our devices and all the social media sites in particular are designed to suck us in and especially when we are tired and trying to like feel back in control of our time, it's so easy to get sucked into that. So, that's what I want us to kind of tackle this week. I want you to think about does revenge bedtime procrastination hit home for you? And, if this is something that you would like to change and work on, that's your goal and your mission for this week. See what you can do to make some changes here. And, I'm not saying that you can't look at social media. I'm not saying that scrolling doesn't feel good in the evening, but maybe you, you set a parameter around when you're going to do that. Like for how long? From seven to eight o'clock, and then at eight o'clock an alarm goes off and the screens go away and you start doing whatever, that nighttime ritual, to make sure that you get in bed and get a good night's sleep, and pay attention then to how you feel. So, how you feel for both, right?
So, go back to last week's invitation when we made the list of I feel better when, and I feel worse when. Right? So, for me, I feel better when I get a good night's sleep. I feel worse when I stay up too late scrolling. So, when I play the tape forward, and I recognize what helps me to feel better. It's easier for me not to totally get sucked into this bedtime procrastination idea. So, see what it feels like for you. What this brings up for you? What you can do. What are some triggers for you? Maybe this is something you talk about as a family and you put some goals into place, whatever it is. Maybe this is something you talk about with your students. Just, Oh, what is it? What does this look like, feel like for you? How does it play itself out, and what are some things you can do to kind of get to back control of this if it feels like a little out of control? And, I wish you all the luck in the world, as I do for myself, too, as we tackle this together this week.
As always, thank you so much to Brooke for making this happen. Thank you Solution Tree and Marzano Resources for this incredible job I get to do. And to all of you. my bad-ass Self-Care Squad. Let's put the screens away. Let's go to bed, and let's see how that makes us feel this week. I'm cheering so hard for you guys. You're amazing.