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How Procrastination Is Messing With Your Sleep

1 minute read

Whether you’re a night owl or an early riser, sometimes it can be hard to stick to your bedtime. You know, those times when you mean to go to sleep but instead you stay up to watch just one more episode of Orange Is the New Black. Before you know it, it’s 1 a.m. The next day, you’re probably groggy, tired, and—let’s face it—cranky.

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“Bedtime procrastination” is the name researchers from Utrecht University in the Netherlands have given to this phenomenon. They define it as “failing to go to bed at the intended time, while no external circumstances prevent a person from doing so.”

Translation: Unlike insomnia, which is when you can’t fall asleep, bedtime procrastination is when you could go to bed, but you willingly put it off and, as a result, you don’t get enough sleep.

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This article originally appeared on Health.com.

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