Sleep Debt simply means, if you sleep normally eight hours, but you slept seven hours the other night – you owe one hour of Sleep Debt.
You need to get 9 hours tonight to “REPAY” the debt…
How can I tell if I have sleep debt?
Sleepiness, drowsiness right after lunch is RED ALERT! 🚨
Chronically obtaining less sleep than you need builds sleep debt over time. At first is manageable, but then it becomes overwhelming.
For optimal function and performance, eliminate sleep debt by gradually increasing your sleep.
BE PATIENT though: Reducing sleep debt can take more time than one night or a whole weekend…
You might feel Geez… I have about a thousand or a million hours of sleep debt…
The good news is that we tap out at around 50 (which is still a lot). I remember (or actually I can’t 😂) when my kids were born my sleeping went down so significantly, I don’t remember a lot of things from the first 6 months…
Not getting enough sleep leads to:
- increased risk of injury and reduced pain threshold
- greater susceptibility to sickness
- reduced physical and cognitive performance
- reduced motivation, learning ability and memory
- increase in anxiety, Irritability, mistakes
- increase in body fat percentage
- reverting to old habits
- poor judgment of speed, distance, time
Getting enough sleep leads to:
- motivation
- recovery and muscle strength
- sprint speeds
- muscle glycogen (stored energy in muscle)
- cortisol (stress) regulation
- motor skill (movement) development
- memory consolidation
ARE YOU IN SLEEP DEBT?
Yours in Health and Fitness,
Gabor