Do you think you can scrape by on a little bit of sleep before trying to make up for it with a super nap?
You might feel better when you restore some sleep debt, but how much lost sleep is too much before it begins to have a real impact?
On average most adults need to clock up at least seven to nine hours sleep each night1.
Having said that, sleep needs also vary from person to person and can even be influenced by your genetics. There are also cultural, environmental and behavioural factors that influence when and how much we sleep – consider a siesta for example2!
With so many fluctuating factors around how much sleep we receive, what happens if you seem to be running on empty more often than not?
Are you an early bird or a night owl?
It’s never been easier to be a night owl and perhaps not get enough sleep. There’s the temptation of lying in bed being distracted by your smartphone or even the true time zapper of a Netflix binge.
Or perhaps you hit the hay early? A recent survey of 20 countries found New Zealander's typically squeeze in eight hours and four minutes sleep each night – the second most sleep time of the countries researched3.
No matter what your sleeping habit, your body still needs a certain amount of sleep in order to function properly.
So the question isn’t how long you are sleeping - or more specifically at what time of day - but more so, how much sleep you actually need.
According to the snooze specialists at The National Sleep Foundation, in order to maintain optimum health, we need to be clocking up at least seven hours sleep and no more than nine hours4.
While you might think that you can catch up on your missed sleep on the weekends with no major side effects, losing 30 minutes of sleep during the week can really stack up – and even lead to some serious problems in the long term.