After a few sleepless nights, you feel like tucking yourself up early and catching up on sleep you have lost. Do you think it really works that way?
During sleep, the memories from the whole day are solidified and we hold onto some of the memories from the day. We do need rest to ensure the proper functioning of the body! Like most Americans, you must be a morning bird and a night owl at the same time. Can you really make up for sleep deprivation anyhow?
Experts are figuring out whether or not you can try catching up on sleep. For most people, getting enough sleep can serve as a great challenge. As per the Centers of Disease Control (CDC), 30% of Americans get sleep of fewer than six hours. There might be a number of reasons for having improper sleeping patterns including stress or insomnia.
Yet, if you continuously fail to get adequate sleep, you definitely need to look for the solutions to defeat the problem – and there are several options to do so.
So, stay tuned with us on this magical session to help you guide yourself about catching up on sleep.
Side effects of sleep loss
According to the National Sleep Foundation survey, most Americans don’t get proper sleep, however, they are required to have 7.1 hours of sleep to feel good. An average of 8 hours of sleep every night is important, but the survey disclosed that Americans normally get approximately 6.9 hours every night, which is fairly less. If you consider yourself in this lane, then you must be aware of the disadvantages of lack of sleep, which are mentioned below:
Blurred vision
Of course, being sleep-deprived can make your vision blur. While you must avoid driving in such a vision because it can result in an accident as well.
Escalated levels of cortisol
Do you feel anxious whenever you get tired? If yes, then this isn’t only your imagination. Due to lesser sleep, you usually face high Cortisol levels (also known as the stress hormone).
Inability to concentrate on daily activities
You must be skipping your nighttime sleeping routines, therefore, you end up sleeping in the morning causing a disturbed routine.
Decreased sex desire
Indeed, lack of sleep can lessen the sex drive as you tend to feel less energy due to lack of sleep. This can happen to both partners that may affect their sexual relationship.
Heart disease and elevated levels of blood pressure
Sleep deprivation can result in increased inflammation and escalated heartbeats, which are both harmful for people who have heart diseases. Therefore, catching up on sleep works well to avoid such issues to some extent.
Balance disorder
You must have heard people tripping while wearing heels, it is pretty common, isn’t it?! However, losing balance due to lack of sleep can also be a reason to trip. In such situations people usually injure themselves, so you better watch out your steps.
Weakened immune system
Due to a lack of proper and irregular sleep, your immune system may lose strength. This makes it easier for you to catch a cold or any other sickness.
Obesity problem
Lack of sleep can result in excessive eating. Moreover, it can also cause fluctuations in hormones and increase your blood sugar causing a disturbed menstrual cycle of females especially.
What are the recommendations from the experts?
If you are done reading the above symptoms, then you better decide on catching up on sleep and the best ways to improvise the sleeping routine. And you never know this may act as a bingo idea to help you recover from sleep-deprived nights. Nevertheless, experts are a bit perplexed as to whether sleep deprivation has a perfect cure or not. Well, there are mixed reviews to this thought, but it’s good to make yourself aware of the best recommendations for catching up for lost sleep.
Further, we have mentioned some bravo solutions for your ease, so keep scrolling.
Plan to have a nap
If you schedule your nap rightly, then it can do wonders for your sleepless nights. However, experts also say that they can be bad for you as well. It mainly depends on the way you schedule your naps. Plan to take a nap at a time earlier or mid-day. Try not to make it any late or else it will get hard for you to fall asleep at bedtime. A 30-minute nap will be enough for your sleep, so make sure your alarm rings right on time.
Reboot your sleep routines
Few experts advise opting for 1 or 2 weeks to slowly reboot your sleep cycle. In order to do so, make sure to hide your alarm clocks somewhere and prefer going to bed as soon as you start feeling drowsy. Try sleeping till the time your eyes open naturally. Initially, it can be hard for you to wake up early, with time, long-term sleeping patterns will ease, and you will soon be able to manage the right sleeping schedule.
Take a sleep break on the weekends
According to the researcher’s study at Penn State University College of Medicine, sleeping on the weekend won’t help you cover all the sleep deficit, however, it can be helpful to a certain degree.
Do keep this intact to your mind – this tactic doesn’t quite help you with focus and attention. Nevertheless, your poor sleep schedules can be accompanied by this short-term strategy, but the chances are quite less.
Reset an earlier time for going to bed
Have you heard the phrase “early to bed, early to rise, makes you healthy, wealthy, and wise?” Well, we bet, you must have forgotten that, but it’s high time you start taking your early bedtime routines a bit seriously. Instead of opting for late-night sleep, make your body use to sleeping at an earlier time. With time, you will notice your body will get comfortable with this sleep pattern and you will naturally fall asleep.