Gen Z Have Embraced 'Revenge Bedtime Procrastination'—and It's Not Good
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content.
Americans are staying up late to reclaim personal time, and Gen Z is leading the charge, often at the cost of not only their sleep, but also health and sanity.
A survey conducted by mattress company Amerisleep has revealed that 51 percent of Americans engage in "revenge bedtime procrastination," the behavior of delaying sleep despite feeling tired, to reclaim personal time.
But among generations, Gen Z is the most impacted. They're not just going to bed the latest—they're also the most likely to sacrifice sleep in exchange for digital distractions and a sense of control over their time.
Gen Z's average bedtime is a striking 12:30 a.m., later than any other generation. And while Baby Boomers and Gen X may stay up late a few nights a week, Gen Z is pushing back bedtime an average of four nights per week. In most cases, it's not work or social obligations keeping them up—it's TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram.
A file photo of a young man sitting awake in bed, looking at his phone.
A file photo of a young man sitting awake in bed, looking at his phone.
golubovy/Getty Images
Nearly half of Gen Z respondents (49 percent) said TikTok is their biggest sleep thief, with YouTube (47 percent) and Instagram (42 percent) close behind. These platforms' endless scroll features create addictive loops that override natural sleep cues, keeping users awake long past when they're ready to rest.
"Sleep loss in young adults can have major implications for mental and physical well-being. Under 30s are at a key phase in brain development, emotional control, and developing lifelong health habits. Chronic short sleep also raises the risk of anxiety, depression, compromised immune function, hormonal disorders, and burnout," Rosie Osmun, a certified sleep coach at Amerisleep, told Newsweek.
"Social media and screen use have a profound impact on younger people's sleep, especially Gen Z. Blue light emitted by screens also inhibits melatonin production, slowing the body's natural sleep signals. Consequently, Gen Z sleeps later than any other age group, with an average of 12:30 a.m., and most of them push back bedtime four nights a week or more," she added.
The consequences are catching up. Nearly half (48 percent) of those who sleep 6 hours or less—many of whom are Gen Z—report high levels of burnout, compared to just 34 percent of people who get 7 or more hours of sleep.
Despite feeling tired, 57 percent of Americans say they're glad they took that time for themselves. It's a complicated emotional loop: satisfaction in the moment, regret the next day.
There is also evidence that staying up late is more common in people working in certain industries, including hospitality, healthcare and government.
"The industries reporting the highest rates of personal time deficit—legal, hospitality, healthcare, government, and retail—should pay special attention to these findings," Osmun said. "When workers feel compelled to sacrifice sleep for personal time, both their health and job performance suffer."
As burnout climbs and mental health concerns grow, reclaiming sleep, not just time, may be the key to helping recovering both energy and balance.
Data was gathered from a survey of 1,000 Americans conducted in 2023. The sample included representation across four generations: Baby Boomers (4 percent), Gen X (23 percent), Millennials (55 percent), and Gen Z (18 percent). The gender distribution was 59 percent female and 41 percent male, with an average age of 40.
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First, a drug like Ozempic mimics the natural GLP-1 hormone in your gut, which slows down digestion in the stomach and gastrointestinal tract. Those who take it feel fuller earlier and longer, and it's easier for them to eat less. The better regulation of blood sugar also prevents massive swings in glucose, which can induce hunger. As a result of its effect on digestion, the most common clinical side effects reported with Ozempic and its peers are nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and constipation. In clinical trials for GLP-1 treatment for diabetes or obesity, between 4 and 12 percent of patients experienced constipation; a similar share of patients endured vomiting and diarrhea. There have been reports of other rare but serious physical side effects: The drugs have been linked to an elevated risk of eye disease among older patients, for example. 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They still liked the cocaine when they were given it, but their desire for additional cocaine was dampened when the dopamine was blocked. The study was small, but it affirmed Berridge and Robinson's initial insight: Dopamine appears to influence the wanting of things, rather than the liking of them. Early studies of Ozempic patients indicate most participants still enjoy their food despite their compulsion to eat being reduced. Some of them, including some of the patients I spoke with, also found themselves desiring healthier foods. 'That's encouraging,' Berridge told me. 'I would say that's a good thing.' However, another way of understanding desire would raise more cause for concern. Jackie Andrade, a psychology professor at the University of Plymouth, has worked with colleagues on the Elaborated Intrusion Theory, which proposes that all our cravings are not unique brain processes but part of our general motivation. According to this theory, when we encounter certain 'triggers' — such as a physical sensation or some environmental cue — the trigger leads to a burst of spontaneous thoughts about an object of our desires. And when we begin mentally picturing our desire, our craving for it only increases. Here is the key finding, Andrade told me: The object of desire — whether it be alcohol, chocolate, or cigarettes — is less important than the underlying mental processes involved in craving. The brain mechanisms are the same regardless of the craving, based on their observations of people's brain patterns when being presented with different triggers. We crave something because the image of it in our minds is briefly pleasurable and thinking about whatever it is boosts our mood, which in turn strengthens the craving and our awareness that we don't have it. This explains one of the conundrums about desire: Our desires are thoughts and thoughts require mental effort. So why aren't they easier to shake? This cycle of environmental triggers — seeing a billboard advertising fast food or attending a cookout with chips and dip on display — leads to our imagining the craving, which leads to both pleasure if we satisfy it and frustration if we don't, which is why we feel such strong impulses to resolve the cravings. But, at least according to the Plymouth researchers' work, there is not a clear distinction between a craving for a piece of pizza and a craving for something more productive. 'From our research, the cognitive processes are the same for both,' Andrade said. 'Could we have less driven entrepreneurs or marathon runners because they're on these drugs and they're too chilled out to want to do anything? Right now, we don't know.' What we still need to figure out about these drugs Even as their usage explodes, the reality behind these drugs and how they affect our desires is still a mystery. Pills are likely to have the same effect as injections on cravings, Berridge told me, so long as the GLP-1 agonist is still crossing into people's brains. 'In what sense is it reducing wanting? Because there's a couple of possible ways. One way would be to subtract a degree of intensity from every want,' Berridge said. 'So addictive wants go down, but then so do the everyday desires in life and even eagerness to go out into the world and face it and do things. That would be bad if it was a general subtraction in intensity of wanting.' 'On the other hand, it is possible that that's not what it's doing, but rather it's lowering the ceiling,' he continued. 'So really intense peaks of wanting can't go so high, but things below that ceiling can still remain normal.' In other words, GLP-1 agonists can only decrease the intense peaks of our cravings, which could allow us to, for example, not binge-eat or overdrink — without eliminating a more normal intensity of wanting for other things. The problem is, Berridge said: 'I don't know of any actual studies that have asked this question.' He said he would like to see a study that measures people's motivation to pursue a wide range of incentives, both mild and intense ones, when on and off one of these drugs. Researchers at the University of Plymouth are setting up studies that would evaluate behavioral changes in people who take the GLP-1 medications. We need more evidence, because what we have right now is circumstantial and inconclusive anecdotes. Peruse the many Reddit communities devoted to these weight-loss drugs and you'll see the subject of cravings come up a lot. Some people describe food cravings that come back after a few months of taking Ozempic or Wegovy. Others report strange new cravings they never experienced before, such as a sudden taste for milk. Some of the changes are expected — decreased desire for nicotine or alcohol — but some are puzzling: One user, a true crime aficionado, described a reduced desire to look at dark or gory materials online after being on a GLP-1 agonist. Others responded by sharing that they were less compelled to shop online or stopped biting their nails. Sarah, the charity development worker from Scotland, told me she started taking a GLP-1 drug three months ago after she gained weight during perimenopause and was struggling to lose it. She's since lost 18 pounds. There have been some physical side effects — fatigue and acid reflux — and she's noticed a significant shift in her cravings. Whereas she used to mix salads with pasta, she finds she no longer craves the carbs. Mashed potatoes used to be one of her favorite foods, but she hasn't eaten that once since going on the medication. At the same time, she has new hankerings for beans and green apples — which she told me she found puzzling because she says she used to hate the sound of teeth crunching into an apple. 'I don't get the same emotions from food,' she told me over email. 'It's nice, I enjoy it, but I don't feel food in the same way.' She, like many other patients, also says she no longer experiences the same desire to drink alcohol. She told me she drinks at most one night on the weekend and no longer attends happy hours with her colleagues like she used to, when she would have a few drinks midweek. 'I don't go and not drink, I just don't go,' she told me. 'Drunk people are tedious when you're sober!' GLP-1s are genuinely promising, but they also reveal our insatiable desire to find a wonder drug that takes care of all of our problems in one pill. Andrade said we should resist that temptation, even if Ozempic and its peers could play a role in helping to address important health crises. Research has consistently found that weight loss tends to be more sustainable when it includes behavioral changes in addition to pharmaceutical interventions. Ideally, you would do both: work on modifying your behavior, while medication assists. Losing weight isn't just about eating less, but eating healthier and exercising more in order to enjoy the health benefits that those positive activities produce. If Ozempic affects all kinds of motivation, patients may not be as driven to adopt those other desirable behaviors. 'If people are taking these drugs, are they more motivated to, say, become more physically active or to eat more healthily? Or are they less motivated because the drugs are doing it for them?' Andrade said. 'There's the risk that people might not want to make changes. If you've still got a bad diet and a sedentary lifestyle, you're building up other problems that are maybe a little bit more hidden because the obesity is not there.' This is already an ongoing subject of concern: Some studies have suggested that people who stop taking Ozempic gain back much of the weight they lost; that may be because they are not adopting desirable new behaviors — better eating, more activity — alongside their taking the drug. On the flip side, some doctors say they also worry about people who take the drugs for reasons other than weight loss but end up undereating and increasing the related health risks of undernourishment. Are these findings a canary in the coal mine for other unexpected and undesirable side effects related to the drug's effects on cravings? It's a genuinely vexing question. After all, many people take these drugs because they do have a problematic compulsive behavior — they eat too much. Getting those cravings under control is the point of getting a prescription. But are people also losing other less obvious desires? Are they losing, in a sense, a part of themselves? The evidence for now is mixed. One Reddit user joked they felt like they were getting mental health care they didn't know they needed. Two Reddit users shared that they had cut down from multiple cups of coffee in the morning to one (or less). 'I'm kind of bummed about it,' one said. 'I love my coffee.' 'Same. I love coffee,' the other poster replied.
