Revenge Bedtime Procrastination (and what do to about it)

There’s a moment—somewhere between finishing your last client email and brushing your teeth—when your brain whispers:

So you stay up.
Even though you’re fried.
Even though you’ll regret it in the morning.

You're not lazy. You're just stuck in what psychologists call revenge bedtime procrastination.

What Is Revenge Bedtime Procrastination?

The term originated in China as a way to describe a phenomenon where people with very little control over their daytime schedule delay sleep to reclaim personal time at night.

For freelancers, the irony is thick:
We technically have control.
But between clients, deadlines, and the pressure to be “always on,” we burn our daytime autonomy on work—and end up stealing time back at night.

This isn’t procrastination.
It’s a power grab.

Why It Happens to Freelancers

Let’s break down what’s really going on here:

1. You confuse freedom with availability.

Many freelancers equate “being a good freelancer” with being endlessly responsive, hyper-productive, or always optimising something. The boundary between your time and client time gets fuzzy, and the whole day becomes performative.

2. You delay pleasure to prove you deserve it.

You finish your work.
Then you do the admin.
Then you post on LinkedIn.
Then you tweak your website.

Only after all that do you maybe let yourself rest or play.
Except… by then it’s midnight and your nervous system is still in spreadsheet mode.

3. You crave decompression, not sleep.

We don't stay up late because we want to be tired.
We stay up because it’s the only time we feel like our lives are ours again. Even if it’s just to binge a show or scroll apartments we’ll never afford.

The Cost of This Behaviour

Delayed sleep isn’t just a quirky personality trait.

Studies show sleep deprivation reduces creativity, decision-making quality, and emotional regulation—all critical for freelance life.
Plus, the cycle feeds itself: poor sleep leads to poor boundaries, which leads to less satisfying work, which leads to… more midnight scrolling.

How to Fix It (Without Becoming a Morning Routine Influencer)

I’m not here to tell you to take cold showers or meditate at 5am.
But here’s what does help:

🛑 1. Name the behaviour when it’s happening.

The moment you notice that “one more scroll” itch, say it:

Naming it interrupts the autopilot and gives you a shot at making a different choice.

🧠 2. Switch the reward, not the routine.

You want decompression? Cool. You need it.
But make it intentional:

• Replace doomscrolling with a comfort show or book.

• Switch from endless web browsing to journaling for 5 minutes.

• Play something tactile or analog before bed: doodle, knit, fidget.

Make rest feel rewarding, not like punishment.

🪩 3. Schedule “unproductive” time earlier.

Block out an hour mid-afternoon or early evening for “unproductive joy.”
Watch dumb videos.
Make weird playlists.
Lie on the floor and vibe.

If you start filling your days with some pleasure, your brain won’t try to steal it all back at night.

😴 4. Protect your sleep like it’s a client.

Freelancers never miss deadlines for clients. But we bail on ourselves constantly.

What if you treated sleep as non-negotiable as a Zoom call?
Put it in your calendar. Build a ritual around it.
Create wind-down alarms. Make your room boring and dark.

Protecting your rest is protecting your business.

TL;DR

If you’re staying up late even when you're exhausted, you're not failing.
You're trying to reclaim something.

But revenge is a short-term win.
Boundaries, joy, and rest?
Those are long-game strategies.