Intervention 1 Behaviour→ Sleep Transfer Experiment

1.Introduction

Experimental objective: 

If the time spent as “compensation for staying up late” is shifted from late at night to daytime, will the same length of “controllable time” still bring a sense of satisfaction and control?

The experiment adopted the approach of “fixed sleep + daytime self-time” to test whether young people could still achieve psychological compensation effects without staying up late.

Reasons for choosing the experimental subjects：

My stakeholders are divided into two groups: students aged 20 to 24 and young workers aged 24 to 28. This intervention will focus on the student group because this experiment needs to be conducted during the day, when the student group has more time for the test. Workers usually have only a two-hour lunch break, making it difficult for them to conduct intervention experiments.

Intervention idea:

The idea of sleep transfer intervention originated from the concept of polyphasic sleep, which indicates that sleep can be distributed over several shorter periods rather than being concentrated only at night.In combination with Revenge Bedtime Procrastination, the intention is to test whether participants can gain autonomy and satisfaction if their stay up late shifts from late at night to daytime.

Theoretical basis：

1. Polyphasic Sleep→Test whether the shift in control can reduce the tendency of Revenge Bedtime Procrastination

“Polyphasic Sleep.” Sleep Foundation,

Polyphasic Sleep: Benefits and Risks

This article introduces the concept of polyphasic sleep, a nontraditional sleep pattern that divides sleep into multiple episodes across the 24-hour cycle, rather than consolidating it into a single nocturnal period. Although this sleep structure can offer some people flexible time arrangements, long-term scientific research has not yet proven its superiority. Instead, it may disrupt the circadian rhythm and affect attention, memory and immune function.

Application to Sleep Transfer Intervention:

In sleep transfer experiments, polyphasic sleep can be used as an experimental variable to explore how participants adapt to cognitive and physiological changes under non-traditional rhythms. The sleep transfer experiment will combine the polyphasic sleep theory, aiming to shift the “compensation for staying up late” time from late at night to daytime, and test whether the same length of “controllable time” still brings satisfaction? It shifts the conscious “self-time” from late at night to a designated daytime window, testing whether time control and emotional satisfaction can still be achieved without staying up late.

2.Reclaiming Autonomy→the motivation of Revenge Bedtime Procrastination

Ramaswamy, C. (2020). The psychology behind revenge bedtime procrastination. BBC Worklife. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/worklife/article/20201123-the-psychology-behind-revenge-bedtime-procrastination .

The article focuses on “revenge bedtime procrastination”, that is, people who know they need rest but still actively delay going to bed to make up for the free time deprived by work or study during the day. This kind of behavior usually stems from a lack of initiative during the day, especially for those with high job demands, heavy caregiving responsibilities or high life pressures. Although this kind of behavior may bring short-term satisfaction, it can lead to long-term sleep deprivation and pose related health risks, causing fatigue, anxiety and cognitive decline.

Application to Sleep Transfer Intervention:

The sleep transfer experiment shifts “nighttime autonomous activities” to the daytime，attempting to break the cognitive structure that “late at night = the only one belonging to oneself”, allowing individuals to experience self-control and relaxation compensation even during the day.

2.Experiment Design

3.Analysis Report on Sleep Transfer Intervention Experiment：

Problems that can be evaluated/explored by the experiment:

1.Does the “compensatory satisfaction” of Revenge Bedtime Procrastination necessarily depend on the night?

2.If the same level of “autonomy” is provided during the day, can it reduce the willingness to stay up late voluntarily?

3. Is late-night behavior an emotional compensation or a cultural habit?

4. After the intervention, did the group report a decrease in the frequency of staying up late and intrinsic motivation?

Summary:

1. Sleep rhythm and sense of control score

-Participants generally adjusted their sleep to 00:00-03:00 at the beginning of the experiment.

-The sense of control score improved before and after the experiment (for example, it rose from 7 to 8+ in Experiment 4).

-The quality of sleep remains basically stable or slightly improves within a fixed period of time.

2. Comparison of Self-time Experiences (Nighttime vs. Daytime)

-Participants in Experiments 4 and 5 believed that the “stolen time” during the day was rather dull and could not replace the sense of solitude at night.

-Participants in Experiment 6 indicated that although the format was the same, there were more distractions and insufficient atmosphere during the day, resulting in poor compensation effects.

3. Psychological state

-The “controlled time” during the day can relieve anxiety, but there is still a tendency to continue the procrastination at night, especially when one is in a low mood or has a weaker sense of control during the day.

-Most people develop a desire to “persist” after going to bed a few days earlier, but it is still prone to relapse.

Key analysis(these key words are listed separately for analysis because these core words through the entire project and are also given special attention in this intervention)：

Satisfaction——Some participants reported that the effect of “controlling time during the day” was limited and the atmosphere was not as good as that at night

Sense of control—— effectively enhanced (such as when the score drops from 5 to 9), especially after having planned daytime tasks.

The urge to procrastinate——has not completely vanished, and there are still night-time mobile phone usage and entertainment activities

Late-night vs daytime self-time——Nighttime, due to its environmental atmosphere and lack of distractions, can bring more psychological security, which is hard to replicate during the day.

Conclusion（answer the four questions initially raised):

1.The compensatory satisfaction of “Revenge Bedtime Procrastination” does not absolutely rely on late at night

Experimental data show that some participants could still obtain similar psychological satisfaction after having disposable time during the day, indicating that the key to compensatory satisfaction lies in “autonomy” rather than the point of time itself. However, a few participants still persisted in late-night activities, indicating that the quiet atmosphere of the night had a unique appeal to them.

2.Providing the same level of “autonomy” during the day can reduce the willingness to stay up late voluntarily

Most participants reported a decrease in the urge to stay up late during the intervention period, especially those who could complete self-selected activities during the day, and the frequency of actively postponing sleep at night was significantly reduced.

3. Late-night behaviors tend to be more about emotional compensation rather than merely cultural habits

Feedback shows that staying up late is often associated with stress relief, emotional release, and regaining a sense of control, rather than being driven solely by social or recreational activities. Cultural factors may reinforce habits, but they are not the main driving force.

4.After the intervention, the overall frequency of staying up late and intrinsic motivation of the group decreased

Data shows that the majority of participants reported a reduction in the frequency of staying up late, with an average bedtime advance of about 30 to 50 minutes. The subjective motivation to stay up late (on the 1-10 subscale) has decreased.

How to get in touch with stakeholders and participate：

1.Contact medium——WeChat

Since most of the participants are in China and I am in the UK, I am unable to conduct one-on-one offline interviews. So all the interviews and the signing of the consent forms were conducted online via wechat.

After each Participants document, I attached screenshots of the interview time and made key points of the interview content（Because the interview duration was close to one hour and some participants refused to record. So I present the interview content in the form of key point records.） and attached the participant consent form.

2. Participation records of intervention experiments

Because this intervention experiment has a long cycle and involves the daily behavior records of the participants, I am unable to keep in touch with them all the time. Therefore, to ensure that the participants could smoothly carry out the intervention experiment, each participant recorded their real behavior of participating in the sleep transfer experiment in the form of short videos or photos as evidence.

The following are the forms filled out by each participant and their participation records（video）：

Learning Outcome:

Before Intervention

LO1 (Enquiry) : The research question remains at the hypothetical level (whether only night can satisfy the psychological compensation for Revenge Bedtime Procrastination).

LO2 (Knowledge) : The research lacks theoretical support.

LO3 (Process) : The research method design is simple (questionnaire surveys were mainly used).

LO4 (communication) : Only for online interviews and communication.

LO5 (Realisation) : Lack of exploration into the intervention of actual sleep behavior.

After Intervention

LO1: After data collection and analysis, it can be clearly determined whether night compensation can be replaced by daytime time.

LO2: Deepened the understanding of Polyphasic Sleep and the theory of time control.

LO3:Conduct research using the method of experimental Intervention (Sleep Transfer Intervention).

LO4: While communicating online, assist stakeholders in participating in the form of video.

LO5: Verify the dependence on nighttime behavior and help stockholders recognize the behavior of Revenge Bedtime Procrastination.