6 Tips for Recovering From a Sleepless Night

The unpredictability of life pretty much guarantees you’re not going to sleep perfectly every night of your life (and you certainly shouldn’t beat yourself up when it happens). But avoiding poor sleep if you can is far more ideal than trying to undo the consequences the next day.

“There’s something called sleep debt, and unfortunately it accumulates over time,” explains Zeeshan Khan, DO, a pulmonologist and medical director of the Deborah Institute of Sleep Medicine at Deborah Heart and Lung Center in Browns Mills, New Jersey.

People try to make up for sleep debt by snoozing more the next night or on the weekend, but there’s really no way to make up for it in the short term, says David Gozal, MD, a pediatric pulmonologist, pediatric sleep expert, and chair of Child Health at the University of Missouri School of Medicine in Columbia.

“The recovery from that night is not going to take place the next night. It takes a few nights before you actually recover,” Dr. Gozal says.

So, if you did sleep poorly last night, what’s the best way to get through the day and get back to a healthy sleep schedule? Here are six tips:

1. Prioritize Getting Back to Your Sleep Schedule the Next Night

The best way to recover after a sleepless night is to not let it become two (or more) nights of disrupted sleep. Aim to go to sleep at the same time you usually do the night after not sleeping well, and get back to a regular, consistent sleep schedule as soon as possible.

And, if you’re going to sleep in on the weekend, the best way to do it is to gradually cut back on your time in bed each day so you’re back to your normal schedule by the top of the week, says Sanjeev V. Kothare, MD, codirector of the pediatric sleep program and director of pediatric neurology at Cohen Children’s Medical Center in New Hyde Park, New York.

“Let’s say you wake up at 7 in the morning on weekdays. On Saturday morning you’re going to wake up at 9 a.m. On Sunday morning you’ll wake up at 8 a.m. and then Monday morning you’re waking up again at 7 a.m.” Even two days of not waking up on time can disrupt your normal sleep schedule going forward, he says.

2. Avoid Napping the Next Day

After a night of inadequate sleep, you’re probably going to feel tired and the urge to nap the next day, Dr. Kothare says. But it’s better to skip the midday slumber if you can. Even if you feel sleepy or a little out of sorts, you’re better off waiting until bedtime (or maybe slightly earlier) and getting a good sleep overnight to get yourself back to your regular sleep schedule, he says. “If you nap, you’re going to have the same problem the next night [of sleeping restlessly].”

Kamyra Harding, a 54-year-old Atlanta-based freelance writer and content manager for Your Teen Media, usually tries to power through and not fall asleep early after a night of poor sleep, something that Kothare and other experts say is ideal if you can pull it off. “No matter what happens during the day, that evening I try to stay awake until my usual bedtime, and then sleep hard. If I retire early, I’ll likely wake early and begin a problematic sleep cycle,” she says.

3. If You Have to Rest, Make It a Power Nap

If you do find yourself struggling to concentrate and keep your eyes open, and you have the opportunity to do so, try a mini-nap or a power nap. “It might be a good strategy to at least recharge your battery a little bit,” Gozal says — as long as you don’t do it later in the afternoon or evening. Napping too close to bedtime can interfere with your sleep.

Kothare says 20 minutes is the sweet spot and suggests setting an alarm for it. “Twenty minutes gives you enough [light-stage] sleep to rejuvenate you, but it doesn’t allow you to go into deep-stage sleep.” Waking up in the middle of deep sleep will leave you groggy, he explains.

4. Know When to Cut Off Caffeine

“I usually say early afternoon is a pretty good cutoff,” Khan says.

5. Avoid Drowsy Driving

• Feeling excessively sleepy
• Struggling to keep your eyes open or going in and out of focus
• Wandering thoughts, difficulty concentrating on driving, and missing signs
• Can’t remember driving the past few miles
• Drifting between lanes, swerving off the road, or struggling to maintain speed
• Trying to keep yourself alert, for example by rolling down the window or turning up the air-conditioning or music
• Head nodding — an indication that you are already experiencing micro-sleep

6. Don’t Panic, but Do See Your Doctor if Sleepless Nights Become a Habit

Oftentimes chronic insomnia starts because your sleep routine gets disrupted (maybe because of a stressful life event or a disruption to your schedule). Even once you have the opportunity to get back to your previous, healthy sleep schedule, your body and brain struggle to do so.

It’s important to know that one night of poor sleep isn’t going to wreck your health. But if disrupted sleep becomes a habit, you could put yourself at higher risk of certain chronic illnesses down the line.

Sleep medicine specialists like Gozal, Khan, and Kothare have expertise in helping people get restful sleep on a regular basis. You can ask your primary care provider for a referral or find a searchable directory of sleep clinics through the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. And seek help sooner rather than later.

The Takeaway

• Sleep and wake at a consistent time every day, including on weekends, to get your sleep schedule back on track after a sleepless night.
• If you’re too exhausted, take a power nap. Experts say a 20-minute nap gives you just enough time to feel rejuvenated before you experience post-nap grogginess.
• If your sleep issues become a pattern, talk to your healthcare provider or seek help from a sleep specialist.

Additional reporting by Andria Park Huynh.