If we spend more money than we earn, we end up overdrafting our bank account. Something similar happens with sleep. When, night after night, we sleep fewer hours than our body needs to recover, the damage accumulates in what is called sleep debt.
This accumulated sleep deficit has physical and mental consequences, including decreased concentration, mood changes, a weak immune system and an increased risk of chronic diseases such as diabetes, obesity or cardiovascular problems.
One of the myths about lack of sleep is that you can make up for lost sleep during the week by sleeping more on weekends or taking naps, which various studies have proven to be almost impossible. In a study of more than 12,000 people, it was found that naps and getting a little extra sleep over the weekend only made up for accumulated sleep debt in one in four subjects.
It’s easy to understand why. If we assume that eight hours of sleep are needed and we lose one hour of sleep Monday through Friday, that’s five hours in total. It is unlikely that we will be able to sleep ten and a half hours on Saturday and Sunday. An analysis of student sleep by PubMed concluded that with a loss of one hour of sleep per day, it was necessary to have the opportunity to get enough sleep up to nine days later to eliminate sleep debt.
For Dr. Diego García-Borreguero, neurologist and medical director of the Sleep Institute, this deficit is a consequence of what is called time difference social: “Stress has not changed quantitatively over the last 100 years, what has changed is the influence of artificial light and the irregularity of schedules in today’s society, and that has a very direct effect on the dream centers,” he explains.
Although a single night of poor rest may not seem like a big deal, it can trigger immediate effects on the body, such as mood changes, reduced ability to concentrate, immune system weakness, and metabolic changes. These negative effects can become chronic when the deficit continues over time.
Although a single night of poor rest may not seem like a big deal, it can trigger immediate effects on the body, such as mood changes, reduced ability to concentrate, immune system weakness, and metabolic changes.
Lack of sleep causes an increase in the stress hormone cortisol, and with it inflammation. It also decreases leptin levels and increases ghrelin levels, hormones that regulate satiety and appetite, respectively. This contributes to feelings of hunger and, often, the desire to consume foods high in carbohydrates and sugars, as the body seeks a quick source of energy to compensate for fatigue. All of this, if sustained, can lead to weight gain.
How to deal with fatigue the next day
Recovering quickly from a poor night’s sleep is important for physical and mental performance, but also to avoid continuing to accumulate sleep debt and make the situation worse. The measures begin the next morning, to ensure that the following night is restorative and lasts long enough. The first recommendation is to expose yourself to natural light early in the morning.
Sunlight is essential for regulating the circadian rhythm, which is the body’s internal clock. Light when you wake up helps reduce the production of melatonin, the hormone responsible for sleep, and promotes the secretion of cortisol, which, although generally associated with stress, is necessary in the morning to wake us up and be alert. But also, morning light causes an increase in melatonin and a decrease in cortisol at night, when we need to rest.
In addition to exposure to light, exercising in the first half of the day can also help you catch up on sleep at night. It doesn’t have to be an intense session. Gentle exercises, such as walking or stretching, can increase energy levels without excessively increasing physiological stress and make us more awake, despite a bad night’s sleep. This was proven in a study of sleep-deprived pilots, for whom just 10 minutes of exercise increased their alertness.
Food and hydration also help with recovery. During sleep, the body loses water through breathing and sweating, and dehydration can exacerbate the feeling of fatigue and make it difficult to concentrate in the morning, a problem that we can solve by drinking a few glasses of water upon waking up. A breakfast rich in protein and healthy fats, such as eggs, yogurt or nuts, helps stabilize blood sugar levels, preventing “crashes.”
Caffeine and naps
Caffeine can be a temporary ally in improving alertness, but excessive consumption, or if consumed after midday, can disrupt sleep the following night, thus worsening the sleep deficit. A cup of coffee or tea in the morning can be helpful, but you should stop taking caffeine at least eight hours before bedtime, and up to 1 p.m. if it is a sports supplement with one dose higher levels of caffeine.
Another relevant strategy is to take short breaks throughout the day, also called power napsor short naps. These short naps, 10 to 20 minutes, are helpful in reducing fatigue and improving attention without going into a deep sleep that can make it difficult to sleep at night. A study of astronauts found that a 26-minute nap, called the NASA nap, improved performance and attention by 34%.
Light when you wake up helps reduce the production of melatonin, the hormone responsible for sleep, and promotes the secretion of cortisol, which, although generally associated with stress, is necessary in the morning to wake us up and be alert.
It is important not to exceed 30 minutes to avoid falling into a deep sleep phase, which could cause a feeling of dizziness upon waking up and disrupt nighttime sleep. In this sense, a 10-minute mindfulness meditation, such as practicing yoga nidra, even if you don’t fall asleep, can also help offset the negative effects of poor sleep without interfering with a night’s rest.
If we sleep poorly, it is tempting to stay in bed longer to compensate, whenever this possibility exists, but this can work to our disadvantage. According to Dr. García-Borreguero, reducing the time spent in bed can help you sleep better the next night: “Given the decrease in time spent in bed, the brain tends to fill the time we give it with more sleep. deep.
Studies suggest that it’s best to try to reestablish your usual sleep schedule so as not to alter the circadian clock, the one that insists on waking us up at the same time even if we haven’t had enough sleep. Patience is the best strategy; schedules that maintain a regular sleep pattern are more effective in minimizing the cumulative effects of this deficit than trying to sleep through the night, which probably won’t work.
It should be taken into account that in people with recurrent sleep problems, these strategies do not replace a professional diagnosis. In these cases, the help of a health professional will allow you to identify and treat the underlying causes, since chronic lack of sleep is not a joke, but something that can lead to serious problems long-term health.
