Why paying off a sleep deficit isn't as simple as sleeping in on the weekend.
, the exact number can fluctuate based on your daytime activities. For example, if you do a high-intensity workout one day, you may need more sleep than usual that night. So, if you sleep for your usual amount of time and you're still tired the next day, you're likely coming up short—meaning, you are accumulating sleep debt.
“Sleep debt occurs when you’re not getting enough opportunity to sleep compared to your body’s current needs.” —Jade Wu, PhD, sleep psychologist But unlike other types of debt, a sleep deficit created by depriving your body of sleep for a few consecutive nights typically can't be remedied by simply making up for lost sleep.
Below, sleep doctors break down the often-misunderstood concept of sleep debt and share their best advice for getting ahead of it.The most common misconception about sleep debt is the idea that you can erase the deficit by sleeping in for a certain number of hours, says pulmonologist and sleep-medicine specialist. As noted above, it isn't typically possible, nor a smart idea, to try to sleep for several additional hours in order to account for the hours of sleep you've recently lost.
Also, this kind of additional sleeping won't reverse the effects of sleep deprivation, anyway."When you are sleep-deprived, even if you sleep extra the next day, the clinical manifestations linger for days afterword," says Dr. Dasgupta. Translation: You could still feel groggy, moody, or just not fully with it for a couple days after losing sleep, even if you try to make it up.
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