Bedtime procrastination research round-up!
Since 2014 when a study in the Netherlands put bedtime procrastination on the map, there's been an explosion of research into this fascinating (albeit frustrating!) subject. Hereโs a quick round-up of all the bedtime procrastination studies from around the world.ย
ย
2026
Title: Going to bed later than intended is associated with shorter sleep and poorer next-day mood and sleepiness in residential college students
The big idea: Does going to bed late negatively affect you even if you can sleep in the next day? This study compared school nights and non-school nights in university students to find out.
๐Read the abstractย
Title: Why parents stay up: Identifying sleep and behavioral predictors of parental bedtime procrastination
The big idea: For this study, researchers examined the sleep diaries from 94 South Korean parents and survey data from 483 US parents to find out more about parenthood and bedtime procrastination.ย
๐Read the study
Title: Bedtime procrastination and psychological distress in university students: A systematic review and meta-analysis of their association
The big idea: Examining 18 studies involving more than 35k people, researchers explored the link between bedtime procrastination, depression, anxiety and perceived stress in students.
๐Read the studyย
๏ปฟ
Title: A meta-analytic reliability generalization study of the bedtime procrastination scale
The big idea: This study analysed results from many previous studies to confirm whether the Bedtime Procrastination Scale is a reliable tool for measuring bedtime procrastination across different countries and populations.
๐Read the study
Title: Bedtime procrastination, negative affect, and emotion regulation
The big idea: Researchers explored the relationship between our ability to manage negative emotions and the likelihood of bedtime procrastination.
๐Read the abstractย
Title: Bedtime procrastination as a typical problem of self-regulation? Insights from the examination of heart rate variability, behavioral regulation and emotion regulation
The big idea: This study of almost 140 adults in Germany took a deeper dive into the relationship between self-regulation and bedtime procrastination.
๐Read the study
๏ปฟ
2025
Title: Bedtime procrastination experiences in university students: A qualitative study
The big idea: Using interviews with 17 Hong Kong university students, this study explored the drivers and experience of bedtime procrastination.
๐Read the abstract
Title: Bedtime procrastination in healthy adolescents and adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis
The big idea: This review brought together bedtime procrastination research from around the world from 2014 โ 2025.
๐Read the abstract
Title: Interplay among bedtime procrastination, sleep patterns, and subjective wellbeing in the Indian population: An observational study
The big idea: A study of over 400 students looked at the impact of bedtime procrastination on anxiety and depression.
๐Read the study
Title: Failing to plan: Bedtime planning, bedtime procrastination, and objective sleep in university students
The big idea: This study from Singapore explored the role planning plays in avoiding bedtime procrastination.
๐Read the study or a quick summary on the Untired Me blog.
Title: The relationship between perceived stress and bedtime procrastination among Chinese college students: A moderated mediation model
The big idea: Are you less likely to go to bed on time when youโre stressed? This study explored the extent to which studentsโ experience of academic stress affected their bedtimes.
๐Read the study
2024
Title: The association between bedtime procrastination, sleep quality, and problematic smartphone use in adolescents: A mediation analysis
The big idea: The study surveyed 245 adolescents to dig into how their smartphone use affected their bedtimes and sleep quality.
๐Read the study
Title: General procrastination and bedtime procrastination as serial mediators of the relationship between temporal perspective and sleep outcomes.
The big idea: This study surveyed 399 university students to examine how positive future-oriented thinking and negative past-focused thinking affect bedtime procrastination, sleep quality and daytime fatigue.
๐Read the study
Title: "Why don't you go to bed on time?" parental psychological control and bedtime procrastination among Chinese adolescents
The big idea: Why do some teenagers struggle to switch off at night? This study of over 2,000 teenagers looked at how parenting style, emotions, and self-control work together to influence bedtime procrastination.
๐Read the study
Title: The effects of mobile phone addiction on bedtime procrastination in university students: The masking effect of physical activity and anxiety
The big idea: Researchers investigated how mobile phone use, anxiety, and physical activity combine to affect bedtime procrastination.
๐Read the study
Title: TikTok use versus TikTok self-control failure: Investigating relationships with wellbeing, academic performance, bedtime procrastination, and sleep quality
The big idea: As you might have guessed, this study specifically looked at the different ways teenagers used TikTok, and how that affected their bedtimes, sleep quality, and wellbeing.
๐Read the study
Title: Self-control and bed procrastination as mediators between mindfulness and sleep quality among college students during the COVID-19 pandemic
The big idea: Using questionnaires with over 700 students, researchers explored the relationship between self-control, mindfulness, bedtime procrastination and sleep quality.
๐Read the study
Title: Workday rhythms and bedtime behaviors: The role of work timing and duration in bedtime procrastination
The big idea: Is your work schedule making it harder to go to bed on time? Researchers explored whether long hours and unusual work patterns contribute to bedtime procrastination in young adults.
๐Read the abstract
Title: Correlation of revenge bedtime procrastination with academic performance in undergraduate students of medical sciences: An online cross-sectional study
The big idea: This study in Pakistan explored the link between bedtime procrastination and various aspects of academic achievement.
๐Read the study or a quick summary on the Untired Me blog.
Title: The impact of sleep determination on procrastination before bedtime: The role of anxiety.
The big idea: This study from China explored the relationship between anxiety on sleep determination (the desire and resolve to go to bed on time and sleep well) and bedtime procrastination.
๐Read the study
2023
Title: Postponing sleep after a stressful day: Patterns of stress, bedtime procrastination, and sleep outcomes in a daily diary approach
The big idea: This study in Germany asked participants to wear a Fitbit and keep a diary to examine the relationship between stressful days, bedtime procrastination and sleep quality.
๐Read the study
Title: โIt's satisfying but destructiveโ: A qualitative study on the experience of bedtime procrastination in new career starters
The big idea: This study from the UK explored the experience of bedtime procrastination in a group of adults who had recently finished full-time education and were taking their first career steps.
๐Read the abstract
Title: A daily examination of executive functioning and chronotype in bedtime procrastination
The big idea: Researchers tracked people's bedtime habits to investigate how self-control and being a "morning person" or "night owl" influence bedtime procrastination.
๐Read the studyย
ย
Title: Bidirectional relations between problematic smartphone use and bedtime procrastination among Chinese university students: Self-Control as a mediator
The big idea: Does excessive smartphone use lead to bedtime procrastination, or does bedtime procrastination encourage more phone use? This study explored the relationship in both directions.
๐Read the study
ย
Title: Relationship between problematic smartphone use, sleep quality and bedtime procrastination: A mediation analysis
The big idea: Looking at the survey results of over 300 people, researchers in Spain investigated the links between bedtime procrastination, problematic smartphone use and sleep quality.
๐Read the study
ย
Title: Mobile phone dependency and sleep quality in college students during COVID-19 outbreak: The mediating role of bedtime procrastination and fear of missing out
The big idea: Could bedtime procrastination and a fear of missing out explain why phone dependency affects sleep? Researchers examined how these two factors might connect heavy mobile phone use with poorer sleep quality in college students.
๐Read the study
ย
Title: Development and validation of the while-in-bed-smartphone-use-induced sleep procrastination scale (WSPS) in Chinese undergraduates with/without problematic smartphone use
The big idea: Building on the well-established Bedtime Procrastination Scale, researchers developed a new questionnaire to measure sleep procrastination caused by using a smartphone in bed.ย
๐Read the abstractย
Title: Potential correlation between self-compassion and bedtime procrastination: The mediating role of emotion regulation
The big idea: Why does self compassion help us go to bed on time? This study explores.
๐Read the studyย
Title: When the night is too short. Bedtime procrastination, self-compassion, and sleep in a daily diary study
The big idea: Can greater self-compassion help you get more sleep even if youโre a bedtime procrastinator?
๐Read the study
2022
Title: Factors influencing bedtime procrastination in junior college nursing students: a cross-sectional study
The big idea: In this study of over 1,800 nursing students, researchers evaluated the role of demographic factors, the big five personality traits, self-regulatory fatigue, future time perspective, and problematic mobile phone use.
๐Read the studyย
Title: Go to bed! A systematic review and meta-analysis of bedtime procrastination correlates and sleep outcomes
The big idea: This major review examined 43 studies to explore the causes and effects of bedtime procrastination.
๐Read the study
Title: The thief of (bed)time: Examination of the daily associations between bedtime procrastination and multidimensional sleep health
The big idea: This study of nearly 300 students used daily diaries to look in greater depth at the effects of bedtime procrastination.
๐Read the study
2021
Title: โGlued to the tubeโ: The interplay between self-control, evening television viewing, and bedtime procrastination
The big idea: Researchers interviewed over 800 people to learn about the relationship between self-control, watching TV and bedtime procrastination.
๐Read the abstract
ย
Title: Bedtime procrastination partially mediates the impact of personality characteristics on daytime fatigue resulting from sleep deficiency
The big idea: How do personality traits contribute to bedtime procrastination and feeling tired during the day? This study from the USA wanted to find out.
๐Read the study
Title: Time perspective and bedtime procrastination: The role of the chronotypeโtime perspective relationship
Summary: Why do some people struggle more with bedtime procrastination than others? This Polish study explored how peopleโs perception of time and sleep-wake preferences (chronotype) relate to bedtime procrastination.
๐Read the study
Title: Boredom affects sleep quality: The serial mediation effect of inattention and bedtime procrastination
The big idea: Does being bored make it harder to go to bed on time? This study explored the links between boredom, bedtime procrastination and sleep quality.
๐Read the study
Title: A randomized controlled trial of a psychological intervention for decreasing bedtime procrastination (BED-PRO Study)
The big idea: This study tested whether a behavioural programme with weekly meetings and a follow-up call could help people stop delaying bedtime and improve their sleep habits.
๐Read the abstract
2020
Title: Smartphone application usage patterns in individuals with high bedtime procrastination: A preliminary study
The big idea: We all know smartphones are part of the bedtime procrastination issue. But what are bedtime procrastinators actually doing on their phones? This study aimed to find out.
๐Read the abstract (Full study in Korean)
Title: Mediating effects of rumination and bedtime procrastination on the relationship between internet addiction and poor sleep quality
The big idea: This study explored how internet addiction impacts sleep quality and what part bedtime procrastination plays.
๐Read the study
Title: What do people do before going to bed? A study of bedtime procrastination using time use surveys
The big idea: As well as exploring psychological factors behind bedtime procrastination, this study analysed peopleโs daily schedules to find out what they were doing instead of going to bed.
๐Read the abstract
Title: Sleep timing and hygiene practices of high bedtime procrastinators: A direct observational study
The big idea: How do bedtime procrastinators behave differently to non-bedtime procrastinators? This study examined sleep timing and sleep hygiene behaviours in nearly 400 students to find out.
๐Read the abstract
Title: An exploratory study on sleep procrastination: Bedtime vs. while-in-bed procrastination
The big idea: Is procrastinating before bed different from procrastinating after getting into bed? This study of 400 high school students in Portugal explored the two behaviours.
๐Read the study
2019
Title: Too exhausted to go to bed: Implicit theories about willpower and stress predict bedtime procrastination
The big idea: This study from Germany examined how stress and our individual beliefs about willpower influence bedtime procrastination.
๐Read the study
Title: Bedtime procrastination, sleep-related behaviors, and demographic factors in an online survey on a Polish sample
The big idea: Whoโs most likely to procrastinate at bedtime? This study adapted the Bedtime Procrastination Scale for Polish participants and examined how bedtime procrastination relates to sleep habits, demographics, and sleep issues.
๐Read the study
Title: An experimental investigation of daily mental contrasting with implementation intentions and goal motives in reducing bedtime procrastination: a registered report
The big idea: Can people train themselves to stop delaying sleep? This study tested a self-regulation strategy called โMental Contrasting with Implementation Intentions (MCII) to find out if it would help participants reduce bedtime procrastination.
๐Read the study
2018
Title: Why donโt you go to bed on time? A daily diary study on the relationships between chronotype, self-control resources and the phenomenon of bedtime procrastination
The big idea: This study of over 100 employees from different industries in Germany explored how being a โnight owlโ and having fewer self-control resources at the end of the day contributed to bedtime procrastination.
๐Read the study
Title: Too depleted to turn In: The relevance of end-of-the-day resource depletion for reducing bedtime procrastination
The big idea: Does a tiring day make it harder to go to bed? This study explored whether resisting temptations during the day makes us more likely to procrastinate at bedtime.
๐Read the study
Title: The explanations people give for going to bed late: A qualitative study of the varieties of bedtime procrastination
The big idea: The researchers interviewed 17 bedtime procrastinators about their bedtime habits and motivations for going to bed late.
๐Read the studyย
2016
Title: Aversive bedtime routines as a precursor of bedtime procrastination
The big idea: This study looked at whether how people feel about their pre-bedtime routine (brushing teeth/closing the house down etc), affects the likelihood of bedtime procrastination.ย
๐Read the studyย ย
2014
Title: Procrastination as a health behavior problem: The relationship between procrastination and getting insufficient sleep
The big idea: Can procrastination affect health beyond work and school tasks? This study explored bedtime procrastination as a health behavior problem.
๐Read the abstractย
Title: Bedtime procrastination: A self-regulation perspective on sleep Insufficiency in the general population
The big idea: This study of almost 2,500 people examined bedtime procrastination as a failure of self-regulation, and explored the relationship between bedtime procrastination, sleep duration and sleep insufficiency.
๐Read the study
Title: Bedtime procrastination: Introducing a new area of procrastination
The big idea: This landmark study was the first to establish bedtime procrastination as a distinct form of procrastination, rather than simply poor sleep hygiene or insomnia.ย
๐Read the study or a quick summary on the Untired Me blog.
If you know of any bedtime procrastination research that isn't included on the list above, please do get in touch with the details.
