It happens to almost all of us. We are waiting for Black Friday to buy that jacket that we fell in love with in the store but it was out of price or those speakers that we never bought for budget, but that surely on this crazy day of discounts we found it reduced and more accessible. But the key day arrives, we go to work in the morning, we pick up the children from school, the shopping, the extracurricular activities, that conversation with your mother that drags on and it hits you at 10 at night and you still haven’t opened your cell phone. or the tablet to finish the purchase or browse to see if you see any last minute opportunities. Experts now say that it may not be a good idea to do it at this hour if you don’t want it to become Bad Friday. And they give a scientific explanation as to why it is better not to buy on these designated days when we are sleepy.
Self-control is the ability to manage our impulses and reactions. A low level of this skill is often related, directly or indirectly, to various problems of varying severity, which can range from committing a crime to procrastinating on a task. Regulating the purchases we make also requires impulse control, something crucial especially in periods like those that are coming, where we are bombarded with discounts, advertisements and various stimuli that encourage us to buy, also facilitated by Internet access on various devices that we all have at home. So the question arises: is there a connection between sleep and the tendency to be impulsive when shopping?
“Sleep is essential for optimal physical and mental functioning, but it can also be essential for our pocketbook, even more so these days close to Black Friday or Cyber Monday. And the thing is, a brain area called the prefrontal cortex is involved in impulse control and this area is very vulnerable to lack of sleep or poor quality sleep,” explains Dr. Ana Fernández Arcos, Coordinator of the Study Group of Wake and Sleep Disorders of the Spanish Society of Neurology (SEN).
The Spanish Society of Neurology (SEN) emphasizes that an adequate duration of sleep is one after which we are in an optimal state to carry out our daily activities normally. Although this number of hours of necessary rest varies between people, and can change throughout our lives, when sleep is insufficient (around less than 7 hours in healthy adults) or of low quality (due to frequent awakenings or disorders sleep) brain functions such as attention, memory, emotional control and sensory perception are affected.
“After a night without sleep, diet, taking medication, work performance or even driving may be altered. If a person has a lack of sleep, for example, due to having a night job, he will have more difficulties maintaining self-control and therefore mastering his impulses less well, due to the alteration in the functioning of the prefrontal cortex already mentioned. For this same reason, some of the people who present more impulsive personality traits, with self-control problems, could attribute it to chronic sleep deprivation,” comments Dr. Celia García Malo, Member of the Disorders Study Group. Wakefulness and Sleep of the Spanish Society of Neurology (SEN).
In any case, whether punctually or chronically, lack of sleep affects the prefrontal cortex, reducing its activity, affecting attention, impulse control, mood regulation and decision making.
Why it is not advisable to shop at night
“Since the implementation of online stores, shopping at night is now a common habit, because perhaps it is the time of day when we have more time to carry out certain tasks that are more complicated at other times. However, our decisions may not be as accurate as those we make during the day, since fatigue and drowsiness also make us more likely to make a purchase that would otherwise be better selected, cheaper, or that we would postpone until a more appropriate time. For this reason, the risk of buying unnecessary things or things that are not suitable for our pocket is greater if the purchase is made at night,” says Dr. Ana Fernández Arcos.
“The experience of shopping at dusk or at night also has other repercussions. At this time of the day we should be relaxed and disconnect from the day’s activity. Browsing the Internet and shopping produces a state of hyperalertness and a peak in dopamine secretion that will make it difficult for us to fall asleep later, generating a vicious circle that leads to short sleep and poorer physical and mental fitness,” says Dr. Celia García Malo.
Therefore, when our mind is fatigued, our willpower is depleted, and our brain does not adequately weigh the consequences of spending, we are more likely to spend more money: making purchases when we are sleep-deprived or at the end of the day. day can lead us to be “bad consumers.”
“So, during these times when consumption and stimuli skyrocket and we are bombarded with offers that seem unrejectable, we would like to remember that impulsive purchases, in addition to not being advisable for our pocketbook, are also not advisable for our health”, concludes Dr. Ana Fernández Arcos. “Any purchase we make is advisable to do so being aware of the expense and whether what we are buying is truly necessary. Therefore, we recommend avoiding shopping when we are sleep deprived because our brain becomes ‘more impulsive’ and ‘less consequential’ and remember that shopping during the night also affects our normal sleep and rest.”
Source: Spanish Society of Neurology (SEN)
