Sleep debt

It is real, and I firmly believe in sleep debt. This is a concept I learned while at UCLA. It is a popular social psychology phenomenon where a person feels the fatigue from cumulative effect of not getting enough sleep. Short term sleep debt can lead to foggy brain, worsened vision, and trouble remembering things. Long term sleep debt is even worse and can lead to obesity and heart disease.

In case you all are shocked by this, let me cite some advice from the Scientific American magazine!

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Scientific American

The good news is that, like all debt, sleep debt can be repaid - thought it won't happen in one extended snooze marathon. The best way to repay sleep debt is to tack on an extra hour or two a night. For those who have months of sleep debt, it is better to take it easy for the next couple of months and slowly rework the sleeping pattern to normal.

The the recovery sleep, both the hours slept and the intensity of sleep are important. Some of your most refreshing sleep is during your deep sleep (REM stage).

As you erase sleep debt, you will come to find out about your specific sleeping patterns that works for you. Sleep researchers believe that genes determine our individual sleeping patterns. So, you can "train" yourself to be a short sleeper and survive with only a few hours of sleep.


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This past week has been tough with two papers on the same day, group projects, and graduate assistantship. Now that I am done, I will slowly repay my sleep debt over the next few days and over the weekend. After that, it's right back to work! :D

One of my favorite cartoon, Pon and Zi