Practice Tip of The Week | Sleep Procrastination

By Cydney Calderon MSN, RN, FNP-C in collaboration with TNA Nursing Practice Committee  

As I lay in bed, I check the time. It’s 11:07 pm. I need to be up at six o’clock in the morning to get my kids ready for school and myself ready for work. I hate nothing more than being tardy. I know I have already cut into an hour of the generalized prescription of eight hours of sleep I am told is best for me. But I don’t stop myself. I keep doom scrolling or reading on my kindle until my eyes won’t stay open.  

What is wrong with me? I am intelligent enough to know this isn’t good for me, yet I live in this pattern most nights, getting five to six hours of sleep (also thanks to the inevitable middle of the night wake-ups from my dogs or kids). I’m chronically tired and pretend I don’t know why.

 This sleep resistance is also known as an emerging concept in sleep medicine called revenge bedtime procrastination. It’s something more and more of us (children and adults) are falling into as our days become more stressful and demanding. We just want time to ourselves, time to get our mind numbingly entertained by our phones and get that quick dopamine hit from a funny video. But of course, this dopamine hit comes at a cost. Participants in this are chronically tired. According to the sleep foundation, those that are chronically sleep deprived are also more likely to have reduced thinking skills, memory,  and ability to make decisions,  all skills nurses require for optimal patient care. They are also putting themselves at a higher risk for metabolic an cardiovascular disorders. While research is just starting on his particular phenomenon, the poor effects of lack of sleep are well known.   

So why aren’t nurses talking about it more? When thinking about all the damage poor sleep can have on people, we should be addressing this with our patients regularly. Sleep hygiene might seem obvious to some, but sometimes people don’t truly know the damage they are doing to themselves by procrastinating sleep, and assume their inability to focus on work or school is a mental health disorder or behavioral problem only.   

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine has a wonderful educational site for patients to use that lists some simple but powerful sleep recommendations to attain the sleep we need. Some recommendations they list include:   

• Limited Screens: Screens and our endless access to them are not helping. Askyourself and your patients to put them down at a certain time (about 30 minutes before bedtime).  
• Get on a sleep schedule:  A consistent schedule for sleep is also an important step; it helps your brain and body start to expect sleep to happen.  
• Foods to avoid:  Avoid large meals, caffeine, or alcohol right before bed.   

Especially in the current stressful political landscape we are all navigating ourselves through, it is necessary to demand priority on sleep. Demand it of ourselves, demand it of others.  

We need sleep to clear our brains of all the junk—literally! Our brain has a lymphatic system, the glymphatic system, that only works well when we are getting appropriate sleep. So don’t hesitate to discuss sleep with your patients, encourage better sleep, or send them to a sleep specialist when they are really struggling.   

Nurses’ ability to rest is an important part of how they are able to manage all of the many key details surrounding patient care needs. Despite having a chaotic work environment, nurses should implement changes in their daily environment to encourage more restful sleep, avoiding negatively impacting habits, so they can provide high quality, focused care to patients.  

Sleep is not a luxury, it is a necessity. Nurses may openly celebrate when five or six hours of sleep revitalizes them, but the fact is that all humans, regardless of nursing superhuman strength, need eight hours of sleep every night.   

REFERENCES

American Academy of Sleep Medicine, (2020, August) Healthy Sleep Habits. Sleep Education.  https://sleepeducation.org/healthy-sleep/healthy-sleep-habits/  

Suni, E. (2025, July 15). Revenge Bedtime Procrastination. Sleep Foundation.  https://www.sleepfoundation.org/sleep-hygiene/revenge-bedtime-procrastination