The day is too short!
It is a phenomenon in which people who don’t have much control over their daytime life refuse to sleep early to regain some sense of freedom during late-night hours.
The phrase refers to the experience of putting off going to bed to squeeze some life out of your day after having spent the bulk of it doing something mandatory (homework or school). When we don’t feel like we can control our days, we compensate by exercising control over our nights to feel less disempowered - we try and take control of the night.
Data shows that most teenagers experience revenge bedtime procrastination. It’s called revenge because it is our mind’s way of taking revenge on itself by delaying going to sleep so it can control what the body does at night. Staying awake, watching Netflix and being on the phone is your mind’s way of telling you that it is lacking control over the day and feeling helpless.
This is your sign to understand that you need to fuel your day with more passion and motivation so that your mind doesn’t feel like it lacks happiness and freedom over your daily life.
Revenge bedtime procrastination is a sign and a symptom of more serious issues in our mental and physical health. It could lead to a reversed sleeping cycle, or worse - seasonal affective disorder and depression. To avoid these problems in our life, we must take charge of our life and romanticize each day. We must make daily activities seem like magic because only then will living actually feel like being alive. As small and cliché as this seems, at least now you know that staying awake till 3 is your minds way of telling you that it needs to feel passionate about its daily life.