Self-Regulation and Bedtime Procrastination in Sleep Health

Bedtime procrastination describes the voluntary delay of going to bed without external constraints, emerging as a pervasive contributor to insufficient sleep and its associated health deficits. Self-regulation—the capacity to modulate impulses, emotions and behaviours to align with long-term goals—serves as a pivotal construct in understanding this phenomenon. Variations in chronotype, momentary self-control resources and environmental factors such as digital media use shape individuals’ propensity to postpone bedtime. Failure to allocate attentional and inhibitory resources towards the intended sleep schedule can lead to cumulative sleep debt, daytime fatigue and compromised cognitive functioning. Research in this domain has broadened to incorporate physiological rhythms, personality traits and habitual routines, offering insights into global public health strategies and personalised interventions that reinforce self-regulatory competencies and promote restorative sleep patterns.

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Self-Regulation and Bedtime Procrastination in Sleep Health publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in self-regulation and bedtime procrastination in sleep health across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Self-regulation: The cognitive and emotional processes that enable individuals to align behaviour with long-term objectives by modulating impulses, attention and actions.

Bedtime procrastination: The voluntary postponement of going to bed at the intended time in the absence of external barriers.

Chronotype: An individual’s diurnal preference for timing of sleep and wakefulness, often categorised as morning, intermediate or evening type.

Self-control resources: The finite cognitive and emotional capacity available at a given moment to exert inhibitory or attentional control over behaviour.

Smartphone addiction: A pattern of excessive and uncontrolled smartphone use that interferes with daily functioning and may deplete self-regulatory capacities.

References

1. Bedtime procrastination: introducing a new area of procrastination. Frontiers in Psychology (2014).
2. Why Don’t You Go to Bed on Time? A Daily Diary Study on the Relationships between Chronotype, Self-Control Resources and the Phenomenon of Bedtime Procrastination. Frontiers in Psychology (2018).
3. The effect of smartphone addiction on the relationship between psychological stress reaction and bedtime procrastination in young adults during the COVID-19 pandemic. BMC Psychiatry (2023).
4. Future Time Perspective and Bedtime Procrastination: The Mediating Role of Dual-Mode Self-Control and Problematic Smartphone Use. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (2022).