You may not be able to make up for all the sleep you’ve lost, but you can take steps to repay your debt. But sleep is essential to our overall health, and we need to make it a priority to meet all the demands on our time. It’s far too common for us to get busy and put off sleep, thinking we have too many important things to do. Take a nap no later than halfway between the time you wake up to the time you go to bed. Late afternoon naps or those too close to bedtime can disrupt sleep and worsen insomnia. If you do nap, be sure to nap earlier in the day. Rather than feeling refreshed, you feel more tired. However, longer naps can lead to post-nap grogginess. If you didn’t get enough sleep the night before, a nap can help you feel less sluggish during the day. Napping can both help and hurt sleep debt. Give yourself a chance to turn the alarm off and sleep until your body wakes naturally. This can work well for the five to ten-hour sleep debt mentioned above.įor longer sleep loss, a vacation may be in order. Add two extra hours each night over the weekend and an extra hour each night during the week until you’re caught up. The Harvard School of Public Health recommends adding one to two hours of sleep each night to make up for a short-term debt. It may take several nights of consistently good sleep to overcome a sleep deficit. But it can get you on your way to erasing the negative effects of accumulated sleep loss. One good night’s sleep can’t make up lost sleep over several nights. Getting to a healthy sleep balance depends on the severity of your sleep deprivation. There’s no quick answer on how long it takes to erase a sleep deficit. ![]() How Long Does It Take to Recover From Sleep Debt? And those crashes lead to an estimated 1,550 to 6,400 deaths. ![]() Drowsy driving causes an estimated 100,000 to 325,000 vehicular crashes each year, according to the National Safety Council. Chronic sleep deprivation can also contribute to workplace accidents.įeeling sleepy can also increase your risk of being in a car accident. Adults getting less than 7 hours of nightly sleep are also more likely to smoke, abuse alcohol, or be physically inactive.Īnd there’s the socio-economic cost, including loss of productivity from sick days to difficulty focusing at work. That’s because there’s a link between getting enough sleep and having obesity, depression, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease. With just a few days of lost sleep, you have trouble concentrating, your blood pressure increases, and your immune system starts to weaken.Ĭontinued sleeplessness contributes to major health problems down the road. Health Issues Associated with Sleep DebtĬonsistently falling short on sleep has negative consequences for your health. ![]() In this case, getting 6 hours each weeknight means you have a 10-hour sleep debt by the weekend. Anything less than that adds to your sleep debt. If you feel your best after 8 hours of sleep, but sluggish after 7, that means you need 8 hours of sleep each night. The goal is to wake up feeling refreshed. What’s more important is knowing what your body and mind need- 7 to 9 hours of sleep-to function at their best. That’s the bare minimum, because everyone’s sleep needs are different. ![]() So if you’re only getting 6 hours of sleep Monday through Friday, by the weekend you’ve built up a debt of 5 hours. Then add up how much less sleep you got every day. One way to calculate your sleep debt is to track the nights you’re getting less than 7 hours of sleep.
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