{"id":2249,"date":"2019-08-25T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-08-25T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/live-ati-pt-2025.pantheonsite.io\/?p=2249"},"modified":"2024-12-17T17:34:30","modified_gmt":"2024-12-17T17:34:30","slug":"can-you-ever-catch-up-on-sleep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.atipt.com\/can-you-ever-catch-up-on-sleep\/","title":{"rendered":"Can You Ever Catch Up on Sleep?"},"content":{"rendered":"

We\u2019ve all been there at some point. It\u2019s that point of exhaustion where our body just feels like it\u2019s running on fumes. In high school or college, it was when we stayed up late studying for exams. In our adult lives, it\u2019s when we work crazy hours trying to get projects for work completed by their deadlines, stay up with our kids who just won\u2019t fall asleep, or even binge watch our favorite shows. No matter the cause, we\u2019ve had our fair share of nights with less than the\u00a0recommended 7-9 hours of sleep<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In fact, a study by the CDC stated that\u00a0\u201c37.1% of U.S. adults reported regularly sleeping less than 7 hours per night.\u201d<\/a>. This means that we are constantly living in a state of sleep debt where the amount of sleep we are getting is less than what we should be getting. The key is to make the difference between the two as close to zero as possible.<\/p>\n

But what happens on those nights or during those weeks when we just can\u2019t go to bed at a decent time to get a good night\u2019s sleep? Can we ever actually catch up on the sleep we\u2019ve lost?<\/p>\n

While many people will automatically answer with a no, it really depends on what kind of sleep deprivation we\u2019re experiencing\u00a0(acute vs. chronic)<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For those experiencing\u00a0acute sleep deprivation<\/strong>, one or two nights of less than 7 hours of sleep, it is possible to catch up but it should be done slowly. Instead of logging all of the missed hours the next day, log an extra hour or two over the next few nights.<\/p>\n

Chronic sleep deprivation<\/strong>, multiple days of less than 5 hours of sleep a night, is another story. \u00a0While recovery sleep (sleeping for an extended period of time after being sleep deprived) will help us feel better and even lower our cortisol levels,\u00a0our mental and physical abilities are still lacking<\/a>\u00a0in comparison to those who regularly get their 7-9 hours of sleep. The other issue is that sleeping in and catching-up on sleep will impact our future ability to sleep, leaving us tired once again.<\/p>\n

So what can we do?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

In a perfect world, if we\u2019re sleep deprived we would\u00a0start paying back our sleep debt<\/a>\u00a0by going to bed when we\u2019re tired and sleeping until we naturally wake up. We would continue doing this until our bodies are naturally sleeping for 7-9 hours each night.<\/p>\n

However, we all know this world is far from perfect and life demands an alarm clock so here are 3 tips:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Prevent Sleep Loss in the First Place<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Eliminate stressors and do something relaxing just before bedtime. Having a bedtime routine will even help signal the body that it\u2019s time to sleep.<\/li>\n
  2. Reduce Recovery Sleep Issues<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0\u2013 If playing catch-up is a necessity, do it by going to bed earlier but still waking up at your usual time.<\/li>\n
  3. Take Short Naps<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0\u2013 If possible, take a short 20 minute nap in the late morning or early afternoon. Just make sure they don\u2019t last longer because it can impact future sleep.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    We\u2019ve all been there at some point. It\u2019s that point of exhaustion where our body just feels like it\u2019s running […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCan You Ever Catch Up on Sleep? | ATI<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"We\u2019ve all been there at some point. It\u2019s that point of exhaustion where our body just feels like it\u2019s running on fumes. In high school or college, it was when we stayed up late studying for exams. 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