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Have you paid your sleep debt yet? - Printable Version

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Have you paid your sleep debt yet? - zonk - 04-15-2012

As keep reading about sleep debt was wondering if its like a bank loan so at some point can be paid off
or its just never going to catch up.



RE: Have you paid your sleep debt yet? - PaulaO2 - 04-15-2012

There's a lot of controversy over whether or not we actually "catch up on sleep". We aren't exactly 'catching up' so much as 'recovering' which, in my opinion, is two different things. Scientific American (May 6, 2008) has an interesting article that includes defining Sleep Debt.

Quote:A 2005 survey by the National Sleep Foundation reports that, on average, Americans sleep 6.9 hours per night—6.8 hours during the week and 7.4 hours on the weekends. Generally, experts recommend eight hours of sleep per night, although some people may require only six hours of sleep while others need ten. That means on average, we’re losing one hour of sleep each night—more than two full weeks of slumber every year.

The good news is that, like all debt, with some work, sleep debt can be repaid—though it won't happen in one extended snooze marathon. Tacking on an extra hour or two of sleep a night is the way to catch up. For the chronically sleep deprived, take it easy for a few months to get back into a natural sleep pattern, says Lawrence J. Epstein, medical director of the Harvard-affiliated Sleep HealthCenters.

Go to bed when you are tired, and allow your body to wake you in the morning (no alarm clock allowed). You may find yourself catatonic in the beginning of the recovery cycle: Expect to bank upward of ten hours shut-eye per night. As the days pass, however, the amount of time sleeping will gradually decrease.

That last bit is actually good advice for sleep hygiene. We know when to wash our hands but not how to sleep. We all have sleep rhythms. In finding out what ours is, we can start to pay off that debt.


RE: Have you paid your sleep debt yet? - Cutter - 04-15-2012

I'm on vacation this week. No alarm clock set to wake me for a full week.


RE: Have you paid your sleep debt yet? - Sleepster - 04-15-2012

Sleep debt is a weird thing, because not all sleep is the same. Some sleep is deeper and more restful than shallow sleep. If we get deprived of sleep, we can work towards paying it back with lots of shallow sleep, which might be equivalent to fewer hours of deep sleep.

I think paying back sleep debt only gets you so far. To get the rest of the way some of us may have to take stronger measures, like adopting good sleep hygiene practices, or possibly even behavioral modification therapy, which is not as serious as it sounds.


RE: Have you paid your sleep debt yet? - CHanlon - 04-16-2012

In a few days, it'll be my second anniversary of starting this whole xPAP journey. Aug 20th will be the second anniversary of actually getting a machine. And I think, now, that I've made up the sleep debt. Over the last few months I've started to find the even on weekends when I bury my alarm clock in the back yard, I'm waking up after nearly exactly 8 hours of sleep... every night. Its not just waking up at a routine time, ie, when my alarm would normally go off, because on weekends I tend to go to bed later, and sleep in a bit..but 7.5 to 8 hours later, I'm awake, even if I decide to just lay there. :-) Its something that I'd not been able to do for several years wake up, normally, feeling like there had actually been any point in sleeping.


RE: Have you paid your sleep debt yet? - TheDreamer - 04-20-2012

After about 9 months of CPAP....my insomnia came back. So, one could say I had paid off my sleep debt at that point.

But, I sure don't feel like I have. There are times....weeks....where I'll crawl out of bed in the morning, go to work....and when I get home from work, its right back into bed until the next time I have to work. If I do eat anything...its usually peanut butter on raisin bread.

And, there's usually a crash while I'm at work...or a nap before I can attempt the trip home from work.

Of course, I didn't have much deep sleep when they found I had sleep apnea...and now I still don't have much deep sleep now that its being managed. But, the docs have given up.


RE: Have you paid your sleep debt yet? - eaglett1111 - 08-17-2012

I was looking up insomnia both on the web and here on this forum and found this thread. It is ominous. My sleep apnea is under control with the CPAP, but I believe I have insomnia.

I need to figure out what is going on and how to cure the insomnia. TheDreamer's post (above) is rather frightening. How many people here think they have insomnia, and what do we do about it? I would hate for all of this work to be for naught.


RE: Have you paid your sleep debt yet? - trish6hundred - 08-17-2012

I'm not sure about my sleep debt, I think It's a work in progress for me but I'm doing much better now that I'm using the CPAP machine. Before I started CPAP therapy, I found myself 'spent before I ever got started, (Ha-Ha.)


RE: Have you paid your sleep debt yet? - Tommy C - 08-17-2012

(08-17-2012, 07:39 PM)eaglett1111 Wrote: My sleep apnea is under control with the CPAP, but I believe I have insomnia.

I'm curious what you and others do during the insomnia? Do you lay in bed and thrash around thinking... or just give up and go downstairs to read a book or watch TV?

Do you feel a panic attack feeling that makes you need to get up out of bed?

Once every six months or so I cannot sleep and have to go outside and take a walk down the street. I sometimes read or do something else. Trying to sleep when I can't is very frustrating and I learned to go with it and just get out of bed. Usually, after a couple of hours, I can go to sleep, but it is about 4 AM by that time....

I find insomnia can be triggered by a very difficult day involving learning something new or struggling with a technology problem that is way over my head. I just can't seem to mentally unwind afterwards.

But usually I sleep like a rock. I do have a small amount of sleep debt - generated by poor quality sleep due to apnea - like many here.

I sometimes wonder what effect being in front of the computer screen all day has on some of us. I do it for work, so kinda stuck.

Please tell us more.

Tom


RE: Have you paid your sleep debt yet? - Sleepster - 08-17-2012

You do want to avoid sitting in front of a monitor in the evening before bedtime. Like I'm doing right now. Oops!

But seriously, if you do have insomnia the light from the monitor tells your brain it's not time for sleep. Part of good sleep hygiene is paying attention to the amount of light entering your eyes. Low light levels tell the brain that it's sleep time. High light levels tell the brain that it wake time.

I awake several times during the night, every night. It used to be a lot worse, especially before I started CPAP therapy 9.5 months ago. It's now down to maybe one time a month that I awake and have to get out of bed. It's very important to avoid light during these times. Do not sit in front of a light-blaring TV or computer screen. Read a book at the lowest level light that's comfortable for your eyes.