And you thought you only had to worry about financial debt. Ha!

Sleep debt may seem like a funny concept at first, but it is completely real and affects 30% of the world's population. In fact, in Greece, according to data from the Ministry of Health a decade ago, approximately two million citizens suffer from sleep disorders .

So if you don't get enough sleep, even if it's just for one or two nights, then you may have unwittingly accumulated some debts "in your account", so it's a good idea to learn how to pay them off.

In this article, we will analyze what sleep debt is , learn how to calculate the sleep deficit you may have, and finally share with you the best ways to avoid sleep debt and recover from it.

What is sleep debt?

Sleep debt, also called sleep deficit, is the difference between the amount of sleep someone needs to function at their peak potential and the amount they actually get.

For example, if your body needs eight hours of sleep a night but you only get six, then you are two hours sleep debt.

Along with diet and exercise, quality and sufficient sleep is essential for a healthy lifestyle. So if you don't get enough rest every night, you may face the same challenges that someone who doesn't exercise enough or doesn't pay attention to their diet at all.

[Read: Why diet affects sleep ]

However, accumulating a large sleep debt does not necessarily mean that it is accompanied by a feeling of unbearable fatigue. And therein lies the trap.

Research has shown that people can cognitively adapt to chronic sleep deprivation without feeling particularly sleepy, even though their bodies experience significant losses in terms of physical and mental performance.

How many hours of sleep do we need?

The easiest way to avoid the consequences of lost sleep is to avoid accumulating sleep debt in the first place.

Learn how much sleep your body needs and make sure to get that amount of time every day. This is one of the best preventative measures you can take to take care of your health and yourself in general.

See how many hours of sleep each age group needs:

Age	Sleeping hours
Newborns 0-3 months	14-17 hours
Infants 4-11 months	12-15 hours
Toddlers 1-2 years old	11-14 hours
Children 3-5 years old	10-13 hours
Children 6-13 years old	9-11 hours
Teenagers 14-17 years old	8-10 hours
Young adults 18-25 years old	7-9 hours
Adults 26-64 years old	7-9 hours
Adults 65+	7-8 hours

However, every person has different needs.

These guidelines serve as a rule of thumb for how much sleep children and adults need, however we should not forget that the ideal amount of sleep may vary from person to person.

So, to decide how many hours of sleep you need to avoid creating sleep debt, you need to take into account your general health, your daily activities, and your general sleep patterns.

Some questions that will help you assess your individual sleep needs are as follows:

• Are you productive, healthy and happy with 7 hours of sleep, or have you noticed that you need more hours of rest to perform better?
• Are you facing any health problems? Are you at high risk for any disease?
• Do you consume a lot of energy during your day? Are you an athlete? Do you work somewhere that requires intense physical activity?
• Do your daily activities require alertness and concentration to perform them safely? Do you drive many kilometers every day? Do you operate heavy machinery? Do you ever feel sleepy when doing these activities?
• Do you suffer from or have a history of sleep disorders?
• Do you depend on caffeine to help you stay alert during the day?
• When you have a free schedule, e.g. on vacation, do you sleep more hours than on a typical workday?

Answer the questions above to understand the optimal amount of sleep you need daily.

How do you calculate sleep debt?

The math here is simple.

To calculate your sleep debt, you must first identify the ideal hours of sleep you need per night, in the range of 7 and 9 hours for adults. In our example, we will use 8 hours.

Calculate how many hours of sleep you got each night for a week from Sunday to Saturday. For example, it might be 7 hours of sleep on Sunday night, 6 hours on Monday to Friday night, and 8 hours on Saturday night. The total hours of sleep needed for the week to be healthy and rested (and without sleep debt) is 56 hours, but in this example, you only got 45 hours of sleep. That equates to an 11-hour deficit.

[Read: Why 6 hours of sleep is just as bad as no sleep ]

If this weekly schedule were representative of your typical week, and then multiplied by the 52 weeks in a year, then the total annual debt would be 572 hours, or more than 23 full days!

How can you avoid sleep debt?

It may seem like sacrificing a few hours of sleep to study or work a few more hours will help you achieve some short-term goal, but remember that adequate sleep improves cognitive performance and allows you to be more focused and efficient during the day.

Here are some ideas for improving your sleep hygiene to reduce the chances of accumulating sleep debt:

Stick to a strict sleep schedule.

Maintaining a set sleep schedule allows you to prioritize sleep and ensure you get enough rest. If you need to change your sleep schedule, do it slowly, gradually increasing it by 15 to 30 minutes.

Create a nightly relaxation routine before bed

A nighttime routine allows your body to relax and prepare for quality sleep. At least half an hour before, try to prepare your body for sleep by dimming the lights, turning off electronics, taking a warm bath, or even utilizing certain breathing techniques that will help you relax and fall asleep faster.

Check your habits during the day

Make sure you get plenty of natural light and exercise during the day, don't consume too much caffeine, don't drink too much alcohol before bed, and limit your use of your bed to sleep and sex. Limiting your exposure to cell phone, computer, and television screens before bed can also help reduce sleep problems.

Improve your bedroom environment

Create an ideal sleeping environment. Keep the room temperature at the ideal temperature (between 15 and 19 degrees Celsius), isolate the room from any lights or noises that may keep you awake, and consider replacing your mattress, pillow, or uncomfortable sheets if necessary. Use a weighted blanket to relax your nervous system, relieve the stress of the day, and fall asleep more easily.

Sometimes sleep loss is unavoidable. Whether it's due to a demanding work schedule or just the occasional night out with friends, it's important to have a plan for catching up on lost sleep.

Fortunately, with a little patience and consistency, you can recover from debt and regain the benefits of quality sleep.

How will you get rid of sleep debt?

Often, napping is the first thing that comes to mind when we don't sleep well at night - and rightly so.

A short nap of 10 to 20 minutes at noon can help you feel refreshed and ready to tackle a task that requires intense mental or physical effort. Napping can increase memory, learning ability, and mental acuity for a few hours.

Making up for lost sleep on the weekends is also a common approach. Unfortunately, it's scientifically unclear whether sleep actually makes up for sleep debt or simply brings us back to our normal sleep patterns.

One problem with both napping and weekend sleep-recovery is that when we don't sleep well on a daily basis, a little extra rest can provide a false sense of recovery. After a little extra sleep you may feel better, but the avalanche of sleep accumulation is a debt that takes longer to pay off.

According to research, it can take up to four days to recover from an hour of lost sleep and up to nine days to eliminate sleep debt .

Full recovery from sleep deprivation can take even longer, according to a 2021 study from Poland's Jagiellonian University, which showed the need for extensive recovery time to alleviate the effects of prolonged sleep loss.

If you want to make up for your sleep deficit after accumulating sleep debt, here are some ideas for getting back on a healthy sleep schedule and fully recovering:

The key is consistency: Try to maintain a consistent bedtime and wake-up time. Whether it's a weekday or the weekend, your sleep schedule should always remain the same . Maintaining a consistent sleep schedule is important for resynchronizing your circadian rhythm ( also known as your body clock).

Keep a diary: A sleep diary can help you track your sleep patterns and any patterns or practices that happen to affect it.

Schedule a nap: While a nap won't make up for lost sleep, a 10- to 20-minute power nap can do wonders for you, helping you feel refreshed and energized throughout the day. Naps can be especially helpful for shift workers or those who can't maintain a consistent sleep schedule. Even a very short 10-minute nap can elevate the rest of your day.

Give it time: Remember that it can take days to work off a sleep debt. Increase your sleep time slowly, by 15 to 30 minutes at a time, until you reach the optimal amount of sleep for your body. Focus on improving your sleep hygiene and getting consistent rest, and your body will do the rest.

Talk to your doctor: If sleep debt is preventing you from accomplishing your daily tasks, it's important to talk to your doctor. A doctor can check for an undiagnosed sleep disorder, such as insomnia, and offer you personalized advice on how to improve your sleep.

Epilogue

Sometimes the hours in the day seem short and not enough to complete all the tasks on our to-do list. And now, it turns out that we can actually harm ourselves by not getting enough sleep.

When you repeatedly don't sleep well and create a "sleep debt," you can damage your emotional health, making you more vulnerable to anxiety, stress, and depression.

The good news is that even if we have debts or have built up a deficit over a period of years, we can get rid of debt within a few days by taking a vacation or making small adjustments to our schedule.

The difference you see in the quality of your life will be spectacular.

Upgrade your sleep with a gravity blanket

Gravity blankets are the most effective way to deal with insomnia and stress without medication, as they have been used for many decades to help people suffering from anxiety disorders, autism, and other sensory disorders.

How do they work?

They are designed to apply gentle, steady pressure to the entire body, which occupational therapists call “ Deep Tactile Pressure .” This steady pressure relaxes the nervous system and helps the body naturally increase levels of serotonin and melatonin (the hormones of happiness and sleep) while reducing levels of cortisol, which is responsible for stress.

As a result, the mind stops "racing", the heart rate drops, the mood improves and the body enters a state of complete relaxation.

Choose the one that weighs closest to 10% of your body weight and upgrade your sleep from the very first night!