What do you do after a bad night’s sleep? It’s likely the answer is downing a load of coffee then getting into bed as early as possible to catch up on the missed hours.

Most of us try to compensate for losing out on snoozing time because we hate feeling fatigued. The recent obsession with tracking sleep has also led many of us to believe that a lack of sleep spells doom for our health. Recent studies have found just one night of poor sleep can lead to anxiety and increase our risk of chronic health issues. 

“The body, brain and emotions all take a hit during and after a bad night of sleep,” says Dr Kat Lederle, a sleep therapist and founder of Somnia. “We miss out on the repair and clearance processes that usually take place when we sleep and our emotional experiences aren’t properly processed and filed. We end up in an unbalanced state and less able to efficiently deal with what the day holds for us – at work and in our personal life.”

But, says Dr Lederle, overcompensating is probably going to make things worse. “It isn’t healthy to constantly yo-yo between short nights and catching up and then short nights again,” she says. The reason? “It confuses your body clock, the time giver that temporally coordinates all processes in your entire body.”

Your body clock, otherwise known as your circadian rhythm, is an incredibly important part of your health. Not only does it regulate your sleep-wake cycle, but your body clock also impacts your metabolism, the regulation of blood sugar and cholesterol, mental health and immune system. In short, it’s not something you want to mess with. 

While your rhythm may be disrupted when you push your sleep back a few hours thanks to working late or socialising with friends, trying to make up for lost time with an early night or late lie-in adds another night of disruption.

So what should you do when you’re short on sleep but want to maintain your regular sleep cycle? “Following one short night, it’s OK to go to bed 30 minutes earlier and get up 30 minutes later. You might do that for two nights so you slowly catch up on the lost sleep, as a slow repayment will avoid further disruption to your circadian system,” says Dr Lederle. 

“You could also take a 15-20 minute nap during the day to add sleep minutes to your day. But catching up on sleep is the exception not the rule and regular sleep times are the most important sleep habit to implement.”  

That’s not to say you should maintain a negative schedule just for maintenance’s sake. If you’re currently working with 1am bedtimes and 6am wake-up calls, changing your schedule is likely necessary, as getting enough good quality sleep is what matters in the long run. “The longer your body can’t properly repair damage during sleep, the greater the effects on your health,” says Lederle.

But when it comes to your one bad night, don’t sweat it. “Having regular sleep times is more important than playing catch up. Constantly changing your sleep times will make your sleep worse. If you have chronic or recurrent poor sleep then it’s best to work with a sleep therapist to address the underlying issues,” explains Lederle. 

Images: Getty