How to catch up on sleep?

Can you catch up on sleep on weekends? What can you do to stop feeling fatigued?

Day-to-day stress, lack of time, work, leisure and changing schedules often cause many people not to get enough sleep to recuperate, something that has repercussions on their health, and it is also common for them not to do so on a regular basis.

Some of these people try to diminish or eliminate the negative effects of sleeping too little on a regular basis by recovering hours of sleep. But how to catch up on sleep? how to catch up on sleep? Is this possible? Let's see it throughout this article.

The importance of sleep

Sleeping is a physiological process of great importance that we carry out not only the human beings, but great part of animals. During this process, although our brain does not stop functioning, our brain activity and the waves it produces change in such a way that our organism's managing organ is allowed to reduce the use of energy and begin a process of self-repair.

This is a vital phenomenon, in a literal sense: sleep deprivation can trigger serious repercussions and if maintained for too long can lead to death.

Sleep is an active and highly structured process in which cycles consisting of different phases are repeated on a regular basis, with different types of brain activity occurring in each phase.

Specifically, we go through four phases of Non-REM sleep (of which the first two correspond to drowsiness and light sleep and the last two correspond to deep, slow-wave sleep, in which rest occurs) and one phase of REM sleep (in which the brain has an activity similar to that of wakefulness and is believed to have to do with the processing of information obtained during the day).

This process is therefore fundamental, and to carry it out in a reduced or insufficient way causes that our organism is not able to regenerate itself completely.This can have different types of consequences.

Among the different consequences we can find fatigue, concentration and memory problems, decreased insulin sensitivity, obesity and risk of diabetes, high blood pressure, increased risk of cardiovascular problems and even a significant reduction in life expectancy or an increase in the probability of premature death. On the other hand, too much sleep is not good either, since it can also generate many of the problems described above.

Therefore, it is advisable to have a regular sleep schedule, it is advisable to have a sleep schedule of between seven and eight hours, being less than six and more than eight hours a night.being less than six and more than nine something harmful.

Recovering sleep... is it possible?

Often people who sleep poorly wonder how it is possible to recover the hours of sleep. Although later we will indicate some useful practices to improve our level of energy and rest, we must keep in mind that although it may seem that after sleeping too much after a season of little sleep it may seem that we wake up energetic and totally restful, in reality science shows that the consequences of sleep deprivation are maintained.

It's not that sleeping more is useless, but it is true that sleep cures allow a partial recoverypart of the lost sleep is not recovered.

Evidence of persistent consequences

Most of the studies carried out seem to show that we do not in fact fully recover the hours of sleep we have lost. Or at least, that their consequences remain.

In people who have slept five or less hours a day during the week, whether or not they increase their sleep hours as a way of trying to recover their energy, it has been observed how the need for energy consumption and metabolism are altered.. This alteration facilitates, among other things, the appearance of obesity.

Linked to this, a greater propensity to type two diabetes has also been detected, given that insulin sensitivity is also reduced in the organism.

It has also been observed that energy levels remain lower than usual after the first few hours, as well as an increase in sleepiness. increased levels of drowsiness and physical and mental fatigue have also been observed.. Our reflexes remain reduced, as well as our ability to concentrate in a sustained manner, which is logical if we think that we are talking about five days a week of little sleep and only two days a week of more sleep.

• You may be interested in, "What are the parts of the brain associated with sleep?"

Some improvements are indeed observed

Now, it is true that the data reflect that people who do not do prolonged sleep as an attempt to recover hours see more altered insulin sensitivity throughout the body while in those who do recover sensitivity decreases in more specific areas.

In addition, a recent study published in the Journal of Sleep Research seems to indicate that while it may not eliminate all of the adverse effects of too little sleep, catching up on sleep over the weekend does the life expectancy of people who resort to this practice is equal to that of those who sleep seven hours a day..

This is especially relevant when compared to people who sleep less than five hours a day and then do not catch up on sleep: the risk of premature mortality increases dramatically. However, the data show that the risk is not increased only if sleep during the weekend is prolonged.

Also, weekend recuperation seems to help control the dysregulation of Blood Pressure in adults that lack of sleep generates at the level of blood pressure in adults, as well as to reduce the risk of obesity in children (in comparison to the existing risk if no attempt is made to recover with a prolonged period of sleep).

How to get restful sleep and how to try to make up hours

As much to sleep little as to sleep too much can be bad, but as a general rule it turns out to be much more habitual and prevalent the first of the cases. We sleep too little for many reasons, often due to external causes such as work schedules or internal such as work schedules or internal causes such as anxiety. And it is common for this pattern to repeat itself habitually, leaving us exhausted. How do you make up for lost sleep or at least get rid of some of the fatigue?

1. Make time in your schedule for sleep

We have already seen that sleep is necessary. Regardless of everything we have to do or that we want to take advantage of the time, the first step is to plan a space in which we can rest. It is advisable to do this on a daily basis, so that we have a healthy routine.

If we do not sleep well during the night, it is advisable to eliminate possible daytime naps.. However, if sleep is insufficient during the night, regardless of whether we take naps or not, and although naps are not the best idea for quality sleep, they can help us to recover part of our energy as a one-time event.

2. Keep a sleep log

Another useful strategy is to keep track of how long we sleep. We are not talking about going to bed with a stopwatch, but rather counting the approximate time we have slept. counting the approximate time we have slept and, if possible, the and, if possible, the stimuli or causes that we believe may have made it difficult to keep a normal schedule. This also serves to reflect on how to improve our schedules.

3. If you sleep little in the day to day, take advantage of the holidays

If for various reasons it is not possible to sleep on a regular basis, a useful practice can be to devote weekends and holidays to recover energy. As we have seen previously the hours of sleep are not fully recovered and some of the difficulties will remain, but they do allow a partial recovery.

3. No to caffeine and other stimulants

Drinking coffee, tea, energy drinks and other substances are common practices that we use to keep us energized. It is a useful strategy in this regard, especially if it occurs with proper sleep schedules or when we have sporadically slept less than normal.

However, if sleep difficulties are habitual, the consumption of these substances is not recommended.

Although in the morning they may be good for clearing our heads, we should avoid them at least during the afternoonThis is especially relevant if the causes of the sleep difficulties are due to a variety of reasons. This is especially relevant if the causes of lack of sleep are internal, such as anxiety, since the consumption of stimulants in that case enhances nervous activation.

4. Prepare the environment before going to sleep

It is necessary to take into account that there are many stimuli that can cause us problems to sleep in a restorative way and that make it difficult to compensate for lost sleep. In this sense we must take into account that we must limit or eliminate the presence of lights of screens (computers, cell phones), try to stay in an area with a relatively constant temperature and with enough space to rest comfortably.

5. The bed to sleep

Another problem that can make it difficult to sleep is the fact that we use our bed regularly for other activities and even to work or study. In this way, our body will not link bed with rest but with activity, which will make it difficult to sleep.This will make it difficult to fall asleep and make up for lost hours. Let's reserve the bed for sleeping, or at most for having sex.

6. Exercise, but not before going to bed

Another strategy that can help us recover hours of sleep is to tire ourselves out by exercising. However, we should limit exercise as bedtime approaches, we must limit the exercise as the time to go to bed approaches.The practice of exercise generates an activation of the organism that will make it difficult to sleep if we do it before going to bed.

7. If you see that you do not fall asleep, do not stay in bed.

Often people with insomnia and people with insomnia and other sleep problems tend to stay in bed even if they cannot fall asleep. even if they cannot fall asleep. The truth is that the best thing to do if this does not work is to get up and freshen up a bit, avoiding stimuli such as cell phones and televisions.

If necessary, we can do some simple and automatic activity, but it should not be stimulating, physically demanding or fun, or it could take our mind off things.

8. Relaxation techniques

It can be useful to practice relaxation techniques, especially if one of the causes of lack of sleep is anxiety.

Some of the simplest and most basic are breathing techniques. To give an example: take a breath through the nose for five seconds filling the stomach before the lungs, hold it for five seconds and then exhale through the mouth emptying the stomach and lungs for another five seconds. Repeating this for three minutes can help you relax, which can make it easier to fall asleep.

There are also many other variations, but they usually require prior training. Practices that work with muscle tension and distension, such as Jacobson's progressive muscle relaxation, can be performed.