It is probably no surprise if you aren’t getting enough sleep at night: you can feel it in many ways. What is sleep debt? Can sleep deprivation or other sleep disorders contribute to an accumulated sleep debt? What can you do to catch up on sleep loss and pay off your sleep debt?
Learn the answers about the impacts of sleep debt and sleep deprivation.
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What Is Sleep Debt?
Sleep debt is the accumulated amount of sleep loss from insufficient sleep, regardless of cause.It most often occurs when insufficient hours of sleep are obtained to meet your individualsleep needs. This may occur due to sleep restriction, in which too few hours are spent sleeping.
For example, if you need 8 hours of sleep to feel rested, but only obtain 6 hours, you will have a 2-hour sleep debt for that particular night. This may have important consequences, especially if the debt builds.
What Are the Effects of Sleep Debt?
Sleep deprivationis linked to many mental andphysical health problems, including:
For all these reasons, you might seek ways to get the sleep you need.
Are There Other Causes of Sleep Debt?
If you have asleep disordersuch asinsomnia,sleep apnea, orcircadian rhythm sleep disorders, this could likewise lead to symptoms that are similar to those that would occur with a sleep debt.Poor quality sleep is unrefreshing. Even though enough hours may be obtained, it may be fragmented and result in daytime consequences. If you wake up feeling unrefreshed, even after sufficient hours of sleep, it may be important to see a board-certified sleep physician to undergo sleep testing.
How to Catch Up and Pay Off Your Sleep Debt
The curious thing is that with sleep deprivation, you can only pay off a recent debt. For example, if you have not slept well over the past year you are not able to pay back the sleep that you’ve missed over that time. Rather, you can only get extra sleep to attempt to make up for the recent time that you lost.
Sleep debts can be paid off in various ways:
This may initially require sleeping longer than your average sleep need to make up for the recent losses. It seems that older adults can rebound quicker than the younger ones, but sleep deprivation affects everyone.
A Word From Verywell
If you struggle with insomnia or other sleep disorders that impact your ability to get restful sleep, speak with your healthcare provider about getting the assessment and treatment that you need to sleep well, avoid sleep deprivation side effects, and feel at your best.
3 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Harvard Health Publishing.Repaying your sleep debt.Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on Sleep Medicine and Research; Colten HR, Altevogt BM, editors.Sleep disorders and sleep deprivation: An unmet public health problem.Columbia University Department of Neurology.Sleep deprivation.Additional Reading"How Much Sleep Do We Really Need?“National Sleep Foundation.
3 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Harvard Health Publishing.Repaying your sleep debt.Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on Sleep Medicine and Research; Colten HR, Altevogt BM, editors.Sleep disorders and sleep deprivation: An unmet public health problem.Columbia University Department of Neurology.Sleep deprivation.Additional Reading"How Much Sleep Do We Really Need?“National Sleep Foundation.
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
Harvard Health Publishing.Repaying your sleep debt.Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on Sleep Medicine and Research; Colten HR, Altevogt BM, editors.Sleep disorders and sleep deprivation: An unmet public health problem.Columbia University Department of Neurology.Sleep deprivation.
Harvard Health Publishing.Repaying your sleep debt.
Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on Sleep Medicine and Research; Colten HR, Altevogt BM, editors.Sleep disorders and sleep deprivation: An unmet public health problem.
Columbia University Department of Neurology.Sleep deprivation.
“How Much Sleep Do We Really Need?“National Sleep Foundation.
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