To reduce bedtime procrastination—which causes us to lose nearly 50 minutes of sleep per night due to a decline in self-discipline and our natural tendency to be night owls—it is recommended to implement 'if-then' action plans (or implementation intentions).

noli's read

Research strongly supports these claims. A major meta-analysis by Hill et al. (2022) of 43 studies confirms that bedtime procrastination is closely linked to lower self-control and an evening chronotype. The estimated sleep loss of approximately 50 minutes is corroborated by observational studies based on sensors and logs, such as the one by Massar et al. (2025), which measures a mean difference of 46 minutes. Regarding solutions, randomized controlled trials conducted by Nauts et al. (2019) show that 'if-then' plans, when combined with visualizing obstacles (mental contrasting), help translate intentions into concrete actions. Nevertheless, this work specifies that purely temporal cues (such as 'If it is 10 p.m....') work less effectively than cues based on physical actions (such as 'If I finish this episode, then...'), as we easily lose track of time in the evening.

the sources

1. 1Kroese FM, De Ridder DTD, Evers C, Adriaanse MA. 2014
2. 2Gollwitzer PM, Sheeran P 2006