Let’s do some sleep math!
You lost two hours of sleep every night last week because of a big project due on Friday. On Saturday and Sunday, you slept in, getting four extra hours. Then come Monday morning, you were feeling so bright-eyed, you only had one cup of coffee, instead of your usual two.
BUT, don’t be duped by your apparent spirit and strength: You’re still carrying around a heavy load of sleepiness, or what experts call “Sleep Debt”.
Let’s explore more about this by clicking on each photo below!
What is it?
For optimal long-term health, most adults need 7-9 hours of sleep each night. Our bodies are programmed to healthy levels of sleep, thanks to our circadian rhythm, which serves as an internal sleep clock. However, life can be busy and hectic, and sometimes we end up sleeping poorly.
Sleep debt is when you owe your body more sleep because you aren’t getting enough rest. A full night’s sleep gives your body plenty of time to cycle through the stages of sleep, which ensures that you get enough deep, restorative sleep.
When you are sleep deprived, your alertness and reaction times get slower, and your memory and cognition may suffer too. In the end, it can become difficult to accurately determine your true level of sleepiness – because your sleep debt has started to feel “normal” for you.
Symptoms of Sleep Debt
A few nights of poor sleep generally results in feelings of:
- Irritability, red, burning eyes
- Sense of mental fogginess or fatigue
- Slowed reaction times
- Extreme daytime sleepiness
- Poor concentration
In fact, sleep debt has been linked to accidents involving cars, motorcycles, airplanes, ships, trains, automobiles, and power plants worldwide.
How to “repay” it?
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. Tacking on an extra hour or two of sleep a night is the way to catch up.
There are seven ways to repay sleep debt:
- Quantify your sleep debt
- Develop a healthy sleeping routine
- Create a cool, dark sleep space
- Try relaxation techniques
- Nap smartly
- Exercise daily
- Watch what you eat and drink
With the long list above, prevention seems to be the best strategy. Although we can’t undo the impact of short sleep by trying to oversleep on the weekends, we can try to create a bit more time for sleep at night during the week and improve behaviors that lead to better sleep.
Sleep better with Mimpi!
Throughout our lives, we spend 26 years sleeping! Surprisingly, we also spend 7 years trying to get sleep. That’s 33 years or 12,045 days spent in bed!
Do you know what the foundation of good sleep is? Yes, it’s a comfortable, supportive, high-quality mattress. Who knows behind your sleepless night and back pain, the culprit is your old mattress. Upgrade your life with Mimpi mattress now!
Our premium high-quality materials from Belgium offers many great benefits for every sleeper:
- Ergonomic
- Hypoallergenic
- Anti-dust mite
- Anti-bacterial
- Orthopedic effect
- Eco-friendly
