The holiday season often brings a flurry of social events and late nights, making it hard to get enough quality sleep. To help you balance festive cheer with healthy sleep, we asked our in-house sleep expert, Christabel Majendie, for her top tips.
What's the least amount of sleep you can get away with before you really struggle to function?
The advice from sleep experts is aim for 7-9 hours but you can get by on less for one or two nights. You might not be aware of how it affects you but if you don't get enough sleep you are likely to underperform at work, make more mistakes, prone to accidents, be more irritable and issues with mood and memory. People are different in how they tolerate sleep deprivation but I would suggest a night below 5-6 hours and you start to struggle. If you've drank alcohol you are going to struggle a lot more.
Does one night have much of an impact, or is it more about having little sleep over two, three, four nights consecutively?
Consecutive nights are definitely going to have a greater impact. One night you can get away with as long as you've had some sleep. Four nights, you are really going to notice.
Can you ever 'catch up' on lost sleep? Is it a false economy to have a super early night when you've barely slept the night before?
You never properly catch up on all your lost sleep. If you get to sleep earlier or lie in after a night of little sleep, you will catch up about a third of what you lost. Your body will change the type of sleep you get to give you a bit more deep sleep then a bit more REM sleep.
What role does alcohol play in all of this? Most of us would probably agree that you're able to keep going on a night out longer when you've had a few drinks - why is that, and what effect does it have on sleep afterwards?
Alcohol is terrible for sleep quality, there's no way around it I’m afraid! You can keep going on a night out mainly because what you are doing is generally stimulating, fun and exciting and this keeps you awake. Alcohol works as a sedative so once in bed normally you get to sleep easily (although for some the stimulating effect of the night out makes this harder) as it sends you into deep sleep but at the expense of REM sleep which gets suppressed. Then when the alcohol starts wearing off, sleep becomes fragmented and you tend to wake up a lot more in the night or for some, wake early and not get back to sleep. Even if this doesn't happen your sleep quality will be comprised by the alcohol. On top of this you might wake in the night thirsty, needing the bathroom or with a hangover which disturbs sleep.
I'm wondering whether a lack of sleep might play a role in lower immunity - do we know if you're more likely to catch cold or bugs if you're not sleeping enough?
It definitely does. There are studies to show a group of people who only had four hours of sleep were more likely to catch an infection they were exposed to than the group that had the full quota of sleep. Also studies showing if people are sleep deprived then receive vaccines, the vaccines are less effective than in people who had more sleep.
If you've only had three or four hours' sleep, what can you do to feel more human the next day (eg the morning after the office party when you still have to go to work - or at least log on)?
Get outside as soon as you can. The daylight, even on a winter cloudy day, will suppress your sleepiness, help you to feel alert and boost mood and energy. If you go for a brisk walk, the exercise will also help. Caffeine in the morning will help but balance it with staying hydrated (not just water but replenish electrolytes). Don't reach for junk food - think good nutrition with a balanced amount of protein, carbs and fats. Take lots of breaks to get outside or to move around. Keep the lights bright.
What tips would you give someone with a super full festive calendar of late nights and a heavy work load, in terms of managing sleep health?
I would say think about what you have control over. You don't have to stay up until 4am, go home earlier. Same with alcohol, you don't have to accept every round. A fizzy water with lime is a great alternative to a gin and tonic! Drink plenty of water to balance alcohol. Eat a proper evening meal (if you skip this, this can affect your sleep), especially if drinking. Maintain the other health behaviours like nutrition and exercise (but not at the expense of sleep). Think about what you have on the next day and balance your nights out against this. I would plan in advance how I want the night to go - how much is my alcohol limit, when I stop drinking, when I am going to leave and what will help me to do this, what will get in the way.
Finally, what counts as 'sleep deprivation'? Is that something that simply means not getting enough sleep in the short term, or is it a long term issue with long term symptoms and ramifications?
You can be sleep deprived in the short and long term. Short term you will notice the effects mentioned above in the first question. These are reversible with sleep. But if you keep depriving yourself over months, long term effects are serious risks to your health - you are more likely to suffer from diabetes type 2, heart disease, obesity, dementia, mental health problems and reduced life expectancy. Your body has to sleep to repair the damage incurred by being awake!
