Sleep Debt, The Ultimate 'Bank Register'

[MegaCarp]

So the last few days as I developed my challenge log I started looking at my sleep and realized I'm A.) Very inconsistent in length and B.) Very inconsistent in time. So in regards to this I started thinking, how long do the effects of a 'sleep debt' last? If you are in a sleep debt, how long must you properly rest in order to see 'change'? Also finally, does going to bed at the same time every night benefit the individual in their sleep?

[Brometheus]

I usually sleep for 6-7 hours. 8 if I really schedule it. I try for 10 on my day off, but if I have no alarm or no life to worry about, I've been known to do 16+ hours at a time. Scary!

[blahblabhlabh]

I've read that there actually is no such thing as sleep debt. Now, as to where I read it at, I don't remember. So don't take me at my word on this

[Raincloak]

I think there is an upper limit to "sleep debt," because if you go a week without sleep, you won't end up sleeping for 2 days straight afterward. (There was a guy who went for three weeks without sleep just to see what would happen, and he wound up sleeping 14 or 16 hours I believe. Then he woke up and said he felt fine.) And there's that guy in east Asia who hasn't slept in many years, following some kind of fever that apparently rewired his brain. He's still alive and seemingly healthy.

If I don't get enough sleep one night, I crash early the next night and I don't feel quite at my best unless I make up the extra hour or two. But if I get only 7 hours a night every day during the work week (I'm one of those people who needs a lot of sleep), I won't need an extra 7 hours of on the weekend. I'll only need 1-3 extra hours. I have gone about 36 hours with minimal sleep after a transAtlantic flight (left one morning, arrived the next morning), and before the 30-hour mark I was almost dropping on my feet. That night I slept about 10 or 11 hours and the next day I felt fine.

Still, even if the "debt" doesn't build up, there is an ongoing cost. Your immune system, healing, cognitive skills and memory are all impaired when you're sleep deprived, and they won't bounce back to normal until you start sleeping more. Your brain also uses sleep time to file, defrag, process and store things, so if you don't sleep after you experience something (like a study session), you're less likely to remember it!

p.s. I believe that going to bed at the same time every night is very beneficial. Your body will adjust and you'll start to feel sleepy around that time, so you can fall asleep more easily (thus getting the most benefit from your downtime) if your bedtime is consistent. Last year I moved in with some people who went to bed and got up a lot earlier than I was used to. At first I just ignored them and continued to stay up late, but after a few months I started getting tired earlier and going to bed earlier, because I had to get up early no matter what. You'll also sleep better if you make sure your bedroom is really dark (close the curtains and don't put a lit alarm clock near the bed if you can avoid it) and you avoid using electronic screens within an hour of bedtime (the light and stimulation confuses your brain).

[shredder]

Sleep is such an unknown thing to us sometimes. I'm not sure we as a society have enough knowledge to pin things like sleep debt down properly. At one point in my life I slept about 4 hours a night during the week, and 6-12 hours on the weekend. I've also gone several months on a mere 3 hours of sleep a day (polyphasic cycle consisting of 2 hours of core sleep and two half hour naps) feeling perfectly fine during the day.

It might just be that everybody is different, or there might be a set of concrete rules we just haven't pinned down yet.

Wikipedia has an article on sleep debt you might find interesting, by the way: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_debt

[dan_ho]

On the topic of sleep, if you don't wake up feeling refreshed:

"Even if you’ve enjoyed a full night’s sleep, getting out of bed isn’t easy if your alarm goes off when you’re in the middle of the deeper stages of sleep (especially stages 3 and 4). If you want to make mornings less painful, set a wake-up time that’s a multiple of 90 minutes, the length of the average sleep cycle. For example, if you go to bed at 10 p.m., set your alarm for 5:30 (a total of 7 ½ hours of sleep) instead of 6:00 or 6:30. You’ll feel more refreshed at 5:30 than you will with another 30 to 60 minutes of sleep, because you’re getting up when your body and brain are already close to wakefulness."

http://www.helpguide.org/life/sleeping.htm