"If I go to bed, it's tomorrow"

This belief is rarely said aloud, but I think it keeps a lot of people on the sofa. Going to bed ends today. The next thing you'll know is the alarm, and then the whole business starts again. While you're still up, that hasn't happened yet. The late stretch is the furthest point from the next set of demands, and leaving it feels like walking towards them.

It makes emotional sense. If tomorrow holds a difficult meeting, or just another day like today, then wanting to put it off is natural. People linger on the last evening of a holiday for the same reason.

But look at what the delay achieves. Tomorrow starts at half past six whatever you do tonight. Staying up doesn't push it back by a minute. You can change only one thing from the sofa, which is the state you'll be in when it arrives. If you go up at ten, you meet the meeting with eight hours behind you. Go up at one, and you meet the same meeting with five and a half. It's like trying to delay a train by arriving late at the station. The train keeps its timetable, and you start the journey out of breath.

There's also a cruel detail from the review in chapter 5. Sleep loss reliably raised anxiety. So the dread you feel about tomorrow is partly made by the short nights you've had already. A short night also turns the dial up for the night after. The more you put tomorrow off, the more frightening tomorrow gets, and the more you want to put it off.

This is an interpretation of mine and I can't cite a study of it. The pieces are well supported, though. Sleep loss worsens mood and anxiety. Putting off bed is linked to the wish to avoid what comes next. I think the loop follows from those two.

Someone might say, "My tomorrows really are that bad." If so, I'm sorry, and I'd take it seriously. Some jobs are making people ill, and some home situations can't be borne for long. That deserves attention in daylight, with a clear head, and possibly with help. A friend, a union rep, a GP or a counsellor could all be the right person. It's too large a problem to be handled by losing sleep over it, and chronic tiredness makes every way out look harder than it is. Decisions about leaving a job or changing a life get made on good sleep or not at all.

For more ordinary dread, the Sunday night kind, I can offer one small thing. Before you go up, write down the first thing you'll do when you get to work, in one line. Dread feeds on tomorrow being a shapeless lump. One line gives it a first step, and the first step is often smaller than the lump suggested.