Investing in Sleep: What is sleep banking? Is it a good idea?

A night out with friends or coworkers or an early morning flight, getting adequate sleep can be difficult. Those missed hours can sometimes also result in sleep deprivation. But did you know there is a simple strategy to guard against the consequences of being sleep deprived beforehand? You might be able to balance it out using a method known as “sleep banking.” But what is it exactly? Let’s take a closer look. Also read: Sleep Tight: Why you should go to bed at the same time every night What is sleep banking? Sleep banking entails getting extra sleep the night before a day you know you’ll be sleep deprived; it could only take an hour a night, according to Dailymail. For instance, you might schedule a 20-minute sleep during your lunch break or go to bed an hour earlier each night for six nights leading up to an event. In 2009, academics at Walter Reed National Military Medical Centre initially proposed the idea of sleep banking. If it was possible to “prepare” for restless nights, the research team intended to rest during their study. Researchers discovered that participants who accumulated sleep ahead of time when they typically slept less had higher alertness levels than those who followed their regular schedule. Allison Brager, a neurobiologist and the author of Meathead: Unravelling the Athletic Brain, advises comparing sleep to a savings account. “The more you can put in, the more you can take out, and the more you’ve taken out, the more you have to put back in in order to get your balance back to normal,” she told CBS News. The purpose of sleep banking, according to Shelby Harris, PsyD, Director of Sleep Health at Sleepopolis and a licensed clinical psychologist, is “to build up a sleep reserve to help offset the adverse effects of the upcoming period of reduced sleep.” Also read: A Good Night’s Rest: Why more people are waking up to sleep tourism in 2023 What are its benefits? Sleep debt, also known as sleep deficit, might be reduced via sleep banking. This is the discrepancy between how much sleep you need and how much sleep you really get, Dailymail quoted the Sleep Foundation as saying. You have a two-hour sleep debt if, for instance, your body requires eight hours of sleep per night but you only receive six. The accumulation of sleep debt occurs if you stay up an hour later than usual for several days in a row. According to data from the US-based Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, 34 per cent of Americans don’t receive the necessary seven hours of sleep per night. The secret is catching up on lost sleep within a week. These hours continue after this point and begin to add up, Dr Chris Winter, a neurologist and sleep expert, told DailyMail. “As long as you do it quickly and you’re pretty diligent about it, I think that can lead to perfectly healthy happy lives,” he said. For the majority of people, the body needs seven to nine hours of sleep per night to fend off a variety of illnesses. This is crucial since sleep deprivation can have detrimental effects, such as emotional instability and declines in cognitive and physical function, according to Brager. “But people who are allowed to bank on sleep prior to that don’t have this significant drop in performance,” she says, adding, “It’s more of a slow, gradual decline during that time, rather than an immediate change.” When circumstances are tight, sleep banking may come in handy. Moreover, having good sleep hygiene, which includes maintaining a consistent sleep schedule of seven hours or more each night, is the ultimate objective and healthiest option. Also read: Couples that sleep apart stay together? Sleep divorce, the new social media trend, explained Why sleep health is so important? Overall health and well-being depend on getting enough sleep. According to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), sleeping helps with cognitive function and memory as well as resting your body and relieving pressure on your heart so it doesn’t have to work as hard to keep you alive as it would when you are awake. Sleep also affects metabolism by increasing hormones that control hunger and impacts metabolism. According to the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, getting enough sleep each night keeps your body in sync with its biological clock so that you can benefit from these advantages as quickly as possible. “Maintaining a regular sleep-wake schedule supports optimal sleep quality and overall mental and physical health,” Harris told internet-based service for physicians and healthcare professionals MDLinx. Chronic health issues like heart disease, kidney disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, stroke, obesity, and depression have consistently been related to sleep deprivation. Which are the most sleep-deprived countries? According to a survey by UK bedding manufacturer Sleepseeker, Singapore has the highest level of sleep deprivation in the world, with a “fatigue score” of 7.20 out of 10. With scores of 7.01 and 6.28, respectively, Mexico and Brazil came in second and third, reported ThePrint. The following nations were also listed among the top 15: the United States (5.57), Japan (5.32), United Kingdom (4.82), New Zealand (4.74), Australia (4.72), China (4.59), Canada (4.39), Italy (3.85), Switzerland (3.12), Germany (3.11), France (2.44), and the Netherlands (2.1). With inputs from agencies