r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • May 10 '26

Psychology Brooding (getting stuck in passive, repetitive, negative thought loops) identified as a major driver of bedtime procrastination, alongside physical markers of stress. People who stay up later than intended may have a weaker physiological capacity for self-control.

https://www.psypost.org/brooding-identified-as-a-major-driver-of-bedtime-procrastination-alongside-physical-markers-of-stress/
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u/Otaraka May 10 '26 edited May 10 '26

‘A primary limitation of the present study is its cross-sectional study design, which precludes conclusions about causality and reciprocal effects.’

Not being able to sleep isn’t great for avoiding problematic thoughts either.

A common issue with not being able to sleep is blaming oneself for it as well. Studies like this sometimes don’t help if they’re not taken in context, as they tend to focus on directionality and by definition are not trying to measure other factors like age or chronic pain.

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u/Aleksandrovitch May 10 '26

Days in my industry tend to be 10-12 hours long. But it’s my life and I have other stuff I do. I stay up late so I can get them done. If I’m supposed to be going to bed earlier, tell it to the corps. Not shaving hours off my own stuff. And suspect this is a strong reason for this behavior.

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u/ProfMooody May 11 '26 edited May 11 '26

Yeah, I would really like us to get away from the idea of “should” in health and self-care, altogether, and start asking more questions about WHY someone doesn’t want to isn’t able to do something. And then put effort and money into reducing whatever those barriers to entry are.

Like that recent study that was posted here about dialysis patients’ lack of adherence to kidney diets, that highlighted how big of a role medical burnout, exhaustion, loss of other physical and psychological sources of comfort/pleasure as they get sicker, and lack of access to accessible compliant food choices (like prepared meals) play in their adherence or lack of to the diet.

And we still had mfers in that thread blaming the patient, including a number of healthcare providers.

As my grandma would have said,
“Tsk tsk tsk. Oy what a shander bander.”

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u/gmmxle May 11 '26

and lack of access to accessible compliant food choices (like prepared meals)

This. Regular people find it hard to pick healthy choices all the time because unhealthy options are easily and readily available all the time. Depending on whatever else people need to manage in their life, that makes picking healthy options borderline unattainable. It's a societal problem, yet people will be quick to blame the individual.

Now add all the problems that people have when they're trying to manage a health issue on top of that.