An increasing number of young people are turning into night owls, whether that be due to anxiety, phone addiction, having too little "me time" during the day or binge-watching the latest TV show.

According to the 2025 AI Era Healthy Sleep White Paper by iResearch Consulting Group, 82 percent of individuals born after the year 2000 go to bed after 11 pm, while the figure rises to 85 percent for those born in the 1990s.

While there are many reasons that people may stay up late, many do so knowing full well that burning the midnight oil is harmful to their health. A large proportion of those surveyed said they can't stop scrolling through their phones late into the night.

'Revenge' procrastination

Many on social media claim that by sacrificing sleep to make up for the time lost during the day, they are seeking to regain a sense of freedom within themselves.

This "revenge bedtime procrastination" — a phrase that's risen to prominence online — is a form of rebellion for many who spend long hours at work and refuse to go straight to bed once they get home.

However, as their bodies start to show signs of declining function, weakened immunity and reduced memory, they finally realize that they cannot trade off their energy for late-night freedom.

"Putting on weight and having 'revenge bedtime procrastination' are two major 'occupational injuries' for contemporary workers," Sun Jia, a white-collar worker in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, wrote jokingly on lifestyle app Xiaohongshu, also known as RedNote.

While food provides the most accessible instant gratification for people under stress, staying up late allows them to regain a sense of control over their own time, the 24-year-old said.

Her reason for staying up late at night is a legitimate one — her work schedule during the day is already packed enough and nighttime is the only time truly reserved for herself, undisturbed.

As such, staying up late used to be her nightly routine. Every workday evening, Sun would lie in bed, mechanically scrolling through short-video apps on her phone, often past midnight.

"I would think to myself, 'Well, I will sleep at 1 am', but I was so addicted that I had lost track of time before I knew it. Then I told myself, 'Definitely sleeping at 1:30 am', however, 1:30 am passed, 2 am passed, and I found myself wide awake and still playing until I was too sleepy to hold the phone," Sun said.

"I thought I was compensating for the time lost during the day by staying up late at night, but the next morning I would wake up feeling utterly terrible," she said.

"My life and my mental state did not improve because of my 'revenge bedtime procrastination', on the contrary, my health bore its consequences."

Putting her foot down, Sun decided she was going to change her behavior, and instead of waking up groggy every day she wanted to wake up spritely and refreshed.

Sun decided to take a gradual approach and make progress bit by bit. "Changing my sleep pattern wasn't easy, but it can be achieved with concrete goals and methods," she said.

"I started by going to sleep 10 minutes earlier each night than the night before. Even if I went to bed at 2 am last night, as long as I go to bed at 1:50 am tonight, it counts as a success. I would also put on an eye mask the moment I set down my phone, to prevent myself from picking it up again."

The strategy turned out to be effective. Sun gradually established a regular and healthy sleep routine. Now, she no longer needs five alarms to wake her up in the morning, nor relies on cups of coffee to survive the day.

"Most importantly, making incremental changes to my sleep pattern has helped me reestablish order in my life, and regaining control over the daily routine gives me a sense of achievement," Sun said.