Although such sleep's true effects are still being studied, it is generally considered a restorative period for the brain. Some of your most refreshing sleep occurs during deep sleep. As the days pass, however, the amount of time sleeping will gradually decrease.įor recovery sleep, both the hours slept and the intensity of the sleep are important. You may find yourself catatonic in the beginning of the recovery cycle: Expect to bank upward of ten hours shut-eye per night. Go to bed when you are tired, and allow your body to wake you in the morning (no alarm clock allowed). Epstein, medical director of the Harvard-affiliated Sleep HealthCenters. For the chronically sleep deprived, take it easy for a few months to get back into a natural sleep pattern, says Lawrence J. Tacking on an extra hour or two of sleep a night is the way to catch up. The good news is that, like all debt, with some work, sleep debt can be repaid-though it won't happen in one extended snooze marathon. That means on average, we’re losing one hour of sleep each night-more than two full weeks of slumber every year. Generally, experts recommend eight hours of sleep per night, although some people may require only six hours of sleep while others need ten. And most Americans suffer from chronic deprivation.Ī 2005 survey by the National Sleep Foundation reports that, on average, Americans sleep 6.9 hours per night-6.8 hours during the week and 7.4 hours on the weekends. Long-term effects include obesity, insulin resistance, and heart disease. Studies show that such short-term sleep deprivation leads to a foggy brain, worsened vision, impaired driving, and trouble remembering. Dement, founder of the Stanford University Sleep Clinic. "People accumulate sleep debt surreptitiously," says psychiatrist William C. It's a deficit that grows every time we skim some extra minutes off our nightly slumber. Sleep debt is the difference between the amount of sleep you should be getting and the amount you actually get. But don't be duped by your apparent vim and vigor: You're still carrying around a heavy load of sleepiness, or what experts call "sleep debt"-in this case something like six hours, almost a full nights' sleep. Come Monday morning, you were feeling so bright-eyed, you only had one cup of coffee, instead of your usual two. On Saturday and Sunday, you slept in, getting four extra hours. You lost two hours of sleep every night last week because of a big project due on Friday.
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