Recovering from sleep deprivation?

February 10, 2006 9:05 PM

What's the best way to recover from sleep deprivation? I'm a 28 y/o guy and I've had three consecutive nights of 5 to 5 1/2 hours sleep (not by my choosing -- busy period at work). Naturally, I'm exhausted by now.

So, should I just sleep in a lot tomorrow (12 hours, say) at the risk of feeling groggy the next day from oversleeping? Or would I be better off sticking with what might be an otherwise normal amount of sleep ("only" 8 hours/night) over the next few days?

On a related note, the "8 hour" mark is often bandied about as the amount of sleep that humans are supposed to get... All the same, I've also heard that some people need slightly more or slightly less than that amount. So, erm, how do I know how much sleep I should be getting each night?

posted by Alex Handcoding to health & fitness (18 comments total)

10 tonight, 9 Saturday night, and then the normal 8 on Sunday so you're set for the week.
posted by Ryvar at 9:07 PM on February 10, 2006

I've gone to several grand rounds presentations by the head of the sleep research center near me, and he states that there's such thing as "sleep deficit." Meaning: if you get 1 hr. less sleep from Monday-Friday, you're "behind" 5 hrs., and require 5 extra hours of sleep on Saturday to catch up.

People need different amounts of sleep. I say: sleep in. It's a Saturday!
posted by herrdoktor at 9:21 PM on February 10, 2006

The most important thing in recovering is to try and get back on your normal schedule ASAP. As in, don't sleep until noon if you normally get up at 8. Try to ratchet your wake-up back to there by Monday.
posted by MrZero at 9:46 PM on February 10, 2006

I've always been a "make it up on the weekends" kind of guy. Don't do that! It makes the time after you wake up on Saturday or whenever suck, then you can't sleep that night, so you sleep in Sunday, can't sleep that night, but have to go back to the grind on Monday anyway. Vicious cycle, I tell you.

I've been in a similar situation as you lately, getting <5 hours a night. I usually sleep from 2 to 9 or 10, but that's been messed up lately. I hit rock bottom the other day, staying up till 6 AM, waking at 8 AM, going back to bed at 4 AM... and not waking up again for good, despite thinking about it, until 8 PM. And I felt horrible for the rest of the night... although, now that I think about it, I felt pretty good today. Still, that can't be healthy, and it's not really that pleasant. So I think advice like Ryvar's is probably best.
posted by SuperNova at 10:06 PM on February 10, 2006

Turn off your alarm and let your body decide how late you should sleep this weekend.
posted by Good Brain at 10:17 PM on February 10, 2006

Go to bed, right now, and get up when you feel like it.
posted by mrbill at 10:39 PM on February 10, 2006

If you're dead-dog tired, sleep in, but try not to stay in bed longer than 10 hours.

I don't think the deficit thing is something that keeps racking up -- most people would need something like 3500 hours of extra sleep beginning right now which is ridiculous. Do a week of an extra hour's sleep and you'll be fine -- it might even take less. Oversleeping is problematic too.
posted by dhartung at 10:49 PM on February 10, 2006

Just sleep as long as you feel like sleeping.

And yeah, I agree with dhartung, I don't think it works like a credit card, where you need x amount of hours of sleep per year. You'll probably have a lot of REM rebound at first (more time sleeping will be spent dreaming) but other then that, just sleep as you normaly would.
posted by delmoi at 11:40 PM on February 10, 2006

On a related note, the "8 hour" mark is often bandied about as the amount of sleep that humans are supposed to get... All the same, I've also heard that some people need slightly more or slightly less than that amount.

No, it's totally, totally dependant on the person. some people actually get by their whole lives on just 4 hours, others need 12. I sleep for 10-12 hours if I can, but usually I end up getting about 7-8, because I stay up till 12-1 AM, and get up for work in the morning. I also feel like I'm wasting my life I spend too much of it unconscious.
posted by delmoi at 11:43 PM on February 10, 2006

Turn your alarm clock off for the next few days and get up when you feel awake. For preference, never stop doing that.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 12:09 AM on February 11, 2006

re: herrdoktor and dhartung:
I was told in academia that sleep deficits certainly exist, but are not persistent. That is, in the short term one's body wants to catch up on lost sleep, but the deficit doesn't compound itself.

Get a little more sleep than your usual for the next day or so. You'll be feeling fine in a few days anyway.
posted by drumcorpse at 12:20 AM on February 11, 2006

Go to bed early, but don't get up late. That just screws everything up.

That said, I'll be getting up a good 5 hours later than usual tomorrow morning.
posted by devilsbrigade at 12:47 AM on February 11, 2006

For now try to just sleep a bunch and hopefully you'll feel better, but if you find yourself still feeling tired or like you haven't had enough rest, for me taking Nyquil (generic) before going to bed results in an extremely restful sleep. In fact, my general cure for what ails me is Nyquil followed by 8-10 hours sleep. I can recall two illnesses this didn't help in the past several years - a nasty tonsilitis and what was probably some food poisoning.

The downside for me is that I wake up with a nasty taste in my mouth, and sometimes slightly out of it (not feeling bad or anything, just a little abnormal) for a few hours after waking up. It can't be good for your liver either, but whatever.
posted by TheOnlyCoolTim at 1:12 AM on February 11, 2006

Agree with those who say to kill the alarm clock and let your body decide. I've never observed a serious penalty by long sleeps. In fact, when running short on sleep before important athletic competitions, I've deliberately stayed in bed the entire day before with the lights low, reading and snoozing all day. Results have been some of my peak performances.

One of my favorite ways to get by when short on sleep is to take a long hot bath, during which I inevitably doze off for 20 min or so.
posted by Manjusri at 1:42 AM on February 11, 2006

Turn off your alarm and let your body decide how late you should sleep this weekend.

I did that last night, as it happens, and woke up 13 and a half hours later :)

My problem is a bit different though. I love sleeping. The only reason I don't sleep as much as I need to is because my body naturally likes being up about 18-19 hours, and only then it gets drowsy. Back in the days I used to freewheel around the clock staying up 18 hours and getting 9 hours sleep was cool, but when you gotta be on a regular schedule it sucks :)
posted by wackybrit at 6:27 AM on February 11, 2006

I heard a sleep specialist once say you can't make up sleep by lying in late the next day, only by going to bed early the night before. It both makes sense and works in my experience.
posted by AmbroseChapel at 1:40 PM on February 11, 2006

Inconsistent sleep tends to mess up my immune system, aka give me the sniffles, a headache, etc. As I do for any potential sickness, I take Wellness Formula.
posted by scazza at 8:15 PM on February 11, 2006

I'm seconding:
"Go to bed early, but don't get up late. That just screws everything up."
I agree with turning off the alarm clock and getting up when you wake up, but make sure you actually get up and don't stay in bed.
posted by Furious Fitness at 9:33 AM on February 13, 2006