A typology of bedtime procrastinators

Abstract

Background: Bedtime procrastination is a highly prevalent antecedent of sleep deprivation (Kroese et al., 2014). In the present research, we aimed to develop a typology of bedtime procrastinators. Method: We conducted in-depth interviews (60-90 minutes) with 14 self-labelled bedtime procrastinators and asked them why they often go to bed late and what kind of activities they engage in while delaying their bedtime. Results: Based on thematic analysis of the data, we first distinguished between “genuine†procrastinators (those who needlessly delay their bedtime, despite expecting to be worse of as a result), and strategic delayers (those who self-label as a procrastinator but, in fact, delay their bedtime in order to achieve intended objectives, such as increased sleep pressure as part of self-medicating for insomnia). Within the group of genuine procrastinators, we further distinguished between mindless procrastination and deliberate procrastination. Mindless bedtime procrastinators mostly went to bed late because they were engaged in immersive activities (e.g., playing video games, watching “just one more†episode of their favorite show on Netflix) and reported that time “got away from them†or they “lost track of the timeâ€. Deliberate bedtime procrastinators, on the other hand, reported that they were mostly aware of how late it was, but that there were simply too many things they still wanted/needed to do before going to bed. Discussion: We are currently developing questionnaires to distinguish between these types of procrastinators, as doing so may help researchers tailor interventions to make them more effective.