Most of us – roughly one in five Brits, according to Mental Health UK – aren’t getting enough sleep at night.
The NHS recommends between seven and nine hours for most adults; but between work, stress, kids and sleep disorders (or an ungodly combination of the lot), not all of us can reach that benchmark – especially in the week.
Experts call the hours we lose in our midweek rush “sleep debt”. It’s sort of like you’ve “withdrawn” too many waking hours from your body’s circadian “bank account”.
Sadly, it seems trying to catch up on the deficit by snoozing all weekend won’t cut the mustard either (scientists think this could be because the yo-yo changes are disruptive to our bodies).
So how can you recover from sleep debt?
It seems that taking smaller steps throughout the week, rather than crashing at the end of it, can help.
Healthline recommends going to sleep 15 minutes earlier than usual night after night, until you think you’ve reached enough sleep time.
The Sleep Foundation says you can extend this to 30 minutes if you like, but advise against adjusting it more than that ― remember, you accumulated the “sleep debt” slowly, so regaining it should take time too.
And if you are going to sleep in on the weekends, Healthline recommends not getting up more than two hours later than usual, because that change can make your sleep worse in the long term.
A quick 10-20 minute nap in the daytime can also help to get you back in the black, too (10-minute-long afternoon naps seem to be the most effective).
But sadly, we must stress again that this isn’t an overnight fix ― some research has shown that it can take as long as four days to recover from one lost hour of sleep, and nine days to clear your sleep debt completely.
How can I get better sleep to begin with?
Some sleep experts like the 10-3-2-1 sleep method, which suggests people stick to the following timelines:
- 10: Avoid drinking caffeine within 10 hours of your bedtime.
- 3: Don’t eat any large meals closer than three hours before you sleep.
- 2: Avoid doing work within two hours of hitting the hay.
- 1: Steer clear of any screens at all in the hour before you settle down.
Exercising throughout the day, keeping your room dark and fairly cool, and not trying to force sleep can all help too, the NHS says.
You should speak to your GP if your tiredness is affecting your day-to-day life and lifestyle changes don’t make it better.