If you are struggling to get the recommended 7-9 hours sleep, can’t you just catch up on sleep at the weekend or on holiday?
In this post, Dr Lindsay Browning explores the concepts of ‘sleep debt’ and whether playing a game of catch up is the same as getting enough sleep regularly.
Sleep debt
Many people don’t get enough sleep during the working week resulting in a “sleep debt”.
If you need 8 hours sleep, but you only get 6 hours of sleep during the working week, due to your job and other commitments, after a few days you can build up a significant sleep debt.
When we have a sleep debt, we are likely to feel low and tired, plus our daytime functioning can be affected. This includes being at increased risk of having a car accident, for example. When you take a nap or have extra sleep at the weekend, this can help you to feel better and improve things like your mood and reaction times.
It can be tempting to build up a sleep debt during the week and try to catch up on lost sleep at the weekend, using lie-ins or early nights to make up for the sleep loss.
Weekend lie-ins and early nights
Although a weekend lie-in can help, research suggests that you can never fully catch up on lost sleep. When you regularly don’t get enough sleep, it affects your health. This includes increasing your risk of heart disease, having a stroke or diabetes. It reduces your immune function and affects your weight. Research suggests that some of these risks can’t be immediately overcome by catching up on sleep at the weekend. Importantly, another study found that it can take at least 4 days to recover from only 1 hour of sleep debt.
Sleep isn’t like a bank account where you can save up and then spend it later.
Sleep debt and our sleep cycle
When we don’t get enough sleep, we may find that we miss out on certain parts of our sleep cycle disproportionately more than others. For example, if you wake 1-2 hours earlier than your ideal waking time, missing out on 1-2 hours sleep, you will likely miss out on a significant proportion of REM (or dreaming) sleep. When we have catch up sleep after a period of also loss, we often experience REM rebound – where we have more REM sleep on the catch up night to make up for that part of lots sleep – this can result in more vivid dreams.
It you do miss out on sleep, then it’s a good idea to catch up on lost sleep as soon as possible with naps or lie-ins, and to try to get more sleep than you might think you need, as sleep debt really builds up. Remember that you may feel better after some catch up sleep, but research suggests that you may never quite completely make up for the metabolic changes caused during the sleep loss. This means regular sleep is better if it can be achieved.
Taking a nap
It’s not ideal to rely on naps, but if you are really struggling with sleep then taking a nap can be a good short-term solution if time allows.
Here are 5 tips for taking a good quality nap to help with sleep deprivation:
1 – Have a short wind down time
We sleep more easily when we are relaxed. Therefore, before taking a nap spend a few minutes doing something calming to get you into the right frame of mind ready for sleep. If you regularly use a pillow spray before you go to sleep for example, then you could spritz it onto your pillow or cushion before taking a nap. If you always read before bed, you might want to read a couple of pages of your book before settling down to nap. Having a consistent pre-bed activity gives a consistent cue to your brain that sleep is coming wherever you are, as well as helping you feel more relaxed and calm which makes falling asleep easier.
2 – Set up a good nap location
When you want to take a nap and you are at home, go to your bedroom to sleep. Close the curtains, loosen your clothing to be as comfortable as possible and get under the covers. We sleep better in darkness and silence as the reduced sensory input helps us to transition into light sleep more easily. Therefore, if your curtains let in a lot of light, you could use an eye mask to block out the light, and even use earplugs or a white noise machine to reduce background daytime noise. If you are not at home, then try to find an empty meeting room or take yourself to your parked car. If in your car, recline the seat so that you can sleep as comfortably as possible.
3- Set a timer (alarm) for your nap
A short power nap of around 20 minutes is ideal because that helps you to stay in the lighter part of sleep (N1 and N2) without going into deep sleep (N3) which risks you waking up feeling groggy. Typically, I would set a timer for around 30 minutes after getting comfortable for my nap which allows me some time to fall asleep and to get the right length nap. If you nap for 45 minutes to an hour, you may find yourself waking with “sleep inertia” which may leave you feeling temporarily more tired when you wake up.
4 – Consider a caffeine powered nap
If you aren’t too sensitive to caffeine, you might want to consider having a cup of tea or coffee just before your nap. As it takes approximately 20 minutes for caffeine to kick in to your system, you should fall asleep without the caffeine affecting you, but then when you wake up, you will have not only had some sleep to help with alertness, but in addition, the caffeine would have kicked in, helping you to feel even more alert. If you nap in the early afternoon just around lunchtime then this caffeine shouldn’t affect your nighttime sleep.
5- Get some bright light soon after waking
After your nap, try to get some bright light exposure as soon as you can, which will help you to feel more awake and alert. Open the curtains if you are in your bedroom and if possible step outside for a little while to get some natural daylight since natural daylight is much stronger than indoor lighting. Bright light after the nap can help to tell your circadian rhythm that it is daytime which will help you suppress melatonin and help you feel more awake.
The importance of regular sleep
Even World Sleep Day has focussed completely on “Regular Sleep, Healthy Future” showing the importance of sleeping the right amount regularly for our health. A typical adult should get between 7-9 hours sleep per day (according to the National Sleep Foundation) for best health benefits. Ideally, this should be every night, rather than made up of 5-6 hours sleep some nights and 10-11 hours other nights.
With all of this in mind, take the time to consider how you can get enough sleep on a regular basis, rather than relying on weekends or days off.
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