I've been doing some reading about sleep patterns as I try to improve my mood etc. by making many small changes to my life. I've come across the notion of sleep debt and am interested in hearing more. Just simple things like how real the notion is? Over how long a period can the 'debt' accrue? On Thursday and Friday I went to bed at 9pm and 8.30pm respectively. I was still really tired when I woke at 6am the next day though.
I can't say I'm an expert on sleep because I don't get much of it (weak joke?). With that said, usually your body will recover from said 'debt,' with forced REM sleep. REM sleep being the sleep that actually allows for mental recovery / alleviates the tired feeling. If you are able to take a nap during the day that can help. Because it's an irregular pattern (if you don't nap), you usually end up sleeping really light - but it's also usually rem sleep. I rarely nap but every once in a while I feel the need to. It tends to be most 'regenerative,' sleep that I get. I can sleep for long periods of time and wake up exhausted. For me, I usually aim for the 6-7 hour mark. Try keeping a sleep journal. Write down the times you go to bed and the times you wake up. If you actively do it you might start to recognize you are waking up a lot in the middle of the night and you can document it. Also try drinking a glass of water before you go to bed instead of snacking (if you do).
Yeah, forced REM sleep is a solution as for the sleep debt in general, I think its different for different people. I usually need about 9 hours sleep, and i get around 5 on week days. on saturdays, i dont end up with a 20 hour sleep debt - just a four hour one, which I'll sleep off easily