When you don’t get enough sleep, you become sleep deprived. The difference between how much sleep you have been getting and how much sleep you personally need is often called a “sleep debt.” The implication here is that over time, a “debt” forms where you need to “catch up” on sleep in order to not suffer from sleep deprivation any more. Unfortunately, overcoming sleep deprivation is not as simple as that.
Sleep debts are extremely important to correctly understand. The common misconceptions about what a sleep debt is and how you “repay” it undermines the ability to actually overcome sleep deprivation. The primary misconception that we see is that one can “repay” a sleep debt in the same way you repay a monetary debt: by binge sleeping.
It simply doesn’t work this way.
Usually people with chronic sleep deprivation will exhibit a number of these symptoms, even with mild sleep deprivation.
Overcoming sleep deprivation starts with understanding how much sleep you need which mostly depends on your age [National Sleep Foundation]:
Second, how much sleep you need depends on you, specifically based on:
For example, if you are 30 years old, you can count on needing at least 7 hours of sleep. But whereas your friend can function optimally on 7 hours of sleep, you may need 8.5 hours of sleep to feel your best.
In summary: you need at least a certain amount based on your age, and may need additional sleep depending on what makes you function the best.
Let’s look at a common way people try and overcome their sleep deprivation by repaying their sleep debt with binge sleeping. Here’s a common binge sleeping scenario:
Unfortunately, all of the evidence from research points out that binge sleeping does not help you overcome sleep deprivation.
Sleep studies show that getting one or two long nights of sleep does not remove the effects of sleep deprivation. It may relieve temporary tiredness and make you feel good for a little while, but sleep deprivation symptoms will still remain afterward. Furthermore, oversleeping can actually make your sleep deprivation symptoms worse.
Overcoming sleep deprivation by repaying your sleep debt does not work like repaying money. The actual way you repay your sleep debt is by establishing a healthy pattern of sleep over time. In the same scenario above, what you would want to do to repay your sleep debt is:
Repaying sleep debt involves consistent, restful sleep until the effects of sleep deprivation are gone.
Sleeping disorders can lead to sleep deprivation if not treated. Some of the most common sleep disorders that generally result in chronic and sometimes severe sleep deprivation are:
If you are struggling with chronic sleep deprivation, please contact us or take a free online sleep test.