Emma Li spent almost three years on China's '996 schedule': working from nine in the morning to nine in the evening, six days a week." I was deprived of all my personal life," says she. Usually, she had a small window to eat, shower and go to bed-but she sacrificed sleep to regain some personal time. Often, Li would stay up surfing the internet, reading the news and watching online videos until well after midnight.
Li was doing what the Chinese have called 'bàofüxingáoyè' — or 'revenge bedtime procrastination' (RBP). The phrase spread rapidly on Twitter in June after a post by journalist Daphne K Lee. She described the phenomenon as when "people who don't have much control over their daytime life refuse to sleep early in order to regain some sense of freedom during late-night hours".
Psychology may explain the reason why people would choose to regain this leisure time even at the expense of sleep. A growing body of evidence points to the importance of time away from work pressure. "One of the most important parts of recovery from work is sleep. However, sleep is affected by how well we separate ourselves from stress," says Sheffield University's Kelly. It's important, she explains, to have a rest when we can be mentally distanced from work, which would explain why people are willing to sacrifice sleep for post-work leisure.
In fact, experts have long warned that insufficient sleep is an ignored global public-health epidemic (流行病). A 2019 survey showed that 62% of adults worldwide feel they don't get enough sleep. People mentioned various reasons for this lack, including stress and their sleeping environment, but 37% blamed their heavy work or school schedule. Long hours at the office aside, another part of the problem is that modern working patterns mean people find it harder to draw boundaries between work and home.