Did you know that in 2013, drivers who were drowsy behind the wheel caused 72,000 car accidents?
These accidents left 44,000 Americans injured and killed 800 people.
What’s shocking is these casualties surpass those who died from texting on the wheel or drunk driving.
Getting enough sleep is critical to road safety. But it’s also equally essential to staying productive at work and your general health and well being.
As an adult, you typically need 7-9 hours of sleep. However, as per the latest sleep statistics, “Americans currently get on average 6.8 hours of sleep each night.”
You may think that almost 7 hours of sleep is fine, but over time those 12 minutes can add up quickly, leading to significant sleep debt.
So what is sleep debt?
According to Scientific American, “sleep debt is the difference between the amount of sleep you should be getting and the amount you actually get.”
These deficits in sleep can affect everything from your cognition and memory to weight gain and even contribute to major illnesses such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
How do you know if you have sleep debt?
With the fast-paced lifestyle we live today, you may not even realize what it means to get a good night’s sleep and wake up well rested.
So you may not actually recognize how tired you really are.
Some sleep debt signs to look out for include experiencing symptoms of sleep deprivation such as yawning and mood swings during the day, fatigue, daytime drowsiness, irritability, lack of productivity and inability to concentrate.
If you’re experiencing any of the above, and you know you’re not getting a good 7-8 hours of sleep, you’re probably in a deficit.
And, if you think sleeping in on the weekends is going to solve the problem, you’re wrong.
Doing this can actually throw off your biological clock, making it harder for you to sleep at night, leading to even more sleep debt.
How to Reduce Your Sleep Debt
Now that we understand that most adults have sleep debt, we’ll explore four ways that you can reduce your sleep deficit and get back control of your health.
1. Go to bed early
The time you head to bed is critical to your long-term well-being.
Research shows that those who slept fewer hours were more likely to have a weaker immune system than those who got a full 7-8 hours worth of rest.
To start, try and get to bed earlier every night and wake up at the time you usually wake up.
You may feel that there’s an endless amount of work you need to complete that will be compromised if you hit the sack early, but try to prioritize sleep.
Try to find ways during the day to get what you need to get done so you can prioritize at least 7-8 hours of quality sleep each night.
Bottom line:
By going to sleep earlier, you may find that you are more well-rested and actually more productive in the morning hours. Or you may even find that getting to bed earlier allows you to get your 7-8 hours so you wake up an hour or two before everyone else, and be more productive with fewer distractions.
2. Take it slowly
We know it’s not going to be easy to just make a drastic shift in getting to bed earlier each night to get your sleep debt under control. However, there’s nothing stopping you from doing this gradually in increments.
For example, if you usually hit the pillow at midnight and wake up by 6 am, try to back up your bedtime by 15 minutes each night to shift your body’s natural circadian rhythm, until you reach the sweet spot of 10 pm to get your adequate 8 hours of sleep.
By doing this gradually you may even find that you’re tired enough to fall asleep at 9:30 pm and wake up 30-minutes earlier making time for that morning yoga or meditation you always wanted to do.
Bottom line:
As you adjust your body clock, make sure to keep this same schedule every day of the week, including weekends and when on vacation. Only once your body clock is adjusted you could do a few cheat nights, but be careful that sleeping in does not affect nighttime sleep, causing another sleep deficit.
3. Avoid long naps
It’s a holiday and you’ve had a large family meal. Your eyes are dropping and you say you’re going to have a quick nap. You wake up 2 hours later, groggy with a heavy head. That night you’re tossing and turning in bed and have trouble falling asleep. Sound familiar?
You may feel that napping in the afternoons, especially on the weekends, may be a good idea to reduce some of your sleep debt but if this leads to not being able to sleep at night, you’ve actually done more harm than good.
The better alternative to alleviate your sleep deficit is to take a quick power nap. A power nap lasts between 10-30 minutes and is actually proven to be good for you. Power naps are shown to improve mood, enhance learning ability and can also help in weight management, blood pressure control, reducing stress levels and more.
Anything longer than 30 minutes and you risk what is termed as “sleep inertia,” that horrible groggy feeling that we mentioned above.
Bottom Line:
Make sure to take your power nap between 1pm-4pm and make it no more than 30 minutes. Napping later than 4 pm can disturb your nighttime sleep routine.
4. Rethink your routine
For most of us who don’t seem to have an extra minute in the day to spare, let alone a full hour or more, making time to reduce your sleep debt may seem like a long-shot.
However, once you start to experience the benefits of a proper night’s sleep, you may rethink some of the ways you do things during the day to make sleep a priority in your life.
For example, if you spend an hour or more every day making dinner, perhaps planning and preparing meals beforehand on the weekends can give you some extra time to wind down earlier on the weeknights.
Or, if you usually workout in the evenings, you may find shifting to a morning workout routine actually helps you to sleep better.
Research has shown that those who exercise at 7 am, “sleep longer, experience deeper sleep cycles and spend 75 percent more time in the most reparative stages of slumber than those who exercise at “later times” during the day.
Bottom Line:
Start by making small tweaks in your daily routine. Remember, every extra minute you sleep counts towards your sleep deficit. Experiment with your daily routine to discover the best schedule that works for you.
If you wish to live a long and healthy life, you need to take sleep seriously.
For most of us, this means curbing our night-owl habits of late-night TV watching, surfing the web, succumbing to food cravings, talking on the phone, having a nightcap, and more.
Going to bed on time, within a set routine and getting a full night’s sleep is essential to alleviating your sleep debt.