| One story from this week especially resonated with me: freelance writer Angela Haupt's piece on "revenge bedtime procrastination," which is a colorful, if confusing, phrase to describe the habit of staying up later than you should just because you just need some time to yourself. The story took me back to the years when, depleted by work and parenting, I'd read a novel into the wee hours – even though I knew I'd regret it in the morning. The term revenge bedtime procrastination is based on a phrase coined by factory workers in China, many of whom adhere to a punishing "996" schedule: working from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., 6 days a week. (The Chinese can also be translated as "retaliatory bedtime procrastination," which makes more sense to me but perhaps isn't as attention-getting.) Because going without sleep isn't healthy, our article offered tips for breaking the habit of revenge bedtime procrastination – such as pruning your schedule or turning off autoplay on your streaming services. But it wasn't until I read some of the comments that I realized that, although we had attributed the existence of revenge bedtime procrastination to social issues (consider the obliteration of the already fading line between home and office), all the tips we presented were aimed at the individuals who are reacting to those issues. "Blame not the people's lack of ability to say no," said one commenter. "Blame the work culture that says this is the way it is." So, in Angela's next story -- about burnout -- we made sure to include steps that bosses can take to prevent the syndrome, such as changing an office climate that normalizes working around the clock, and actively encouraging staff to use vacation and sick days. "It's imperative to look at this as a systems-level problem, not an individual problem," as one expert in the story put it. That holds true for many wellness issues we cover -- not just revenge bedtime procrastination and burnout -- and we'll keep it in mind. While we're on the subject of working, please tell us what you love or miss about the office. Your comments may appear in an upcoming special section of The Post about going back to work. Take care!
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