A New Binge Sleeping Trend?

We’ve all heard of binge watching TV — watching episode after episode of a show on Netflix or elsewhere.  But, what about binge sleeping?  Apparently it’s a trend, and it has its good sides and downsides.

According to Huffington Post, one of the new trends in sleep for 2018 in sleep bingeing — taking long naps that last several hours, or even sleeping more than 10 hours if you’re tired.  However you define it, we like the idea … up to a point.

According to a recent study, we’re getting more sleep now than we were about 15 years ago, but it’s still not enough.    About 1/3 of all Americans are still sleep-deprived.  As a result of that, we’re not totally against trying to make it up by sleeping longer when you can.  The downside of it is that it can make things worse later, if it’s not done correctly.

Going to bed at midnight and getting up at 10 or 11 a.m. on a rare Saturday sounds wonderful, and probably won’t do too much harm unless you do it every Saturday and Sunday.  One of the best pieces of advice we can give is to keep your bedtime and wake-up time close to the same every day.  If you go to bed and get up much later on Saturday and Sunday than you do during the week, you’ll experience what’s called social jetlag on Monday morning, when your body is not happy about getting up to go to work.  Additionally, taking a very long nap in the middle of the day can keep you from sleeping well that night, which can make matters worse.

If you’re sleep deprived, the best way to work off your sleep debt is to make sure you’re getting seven to eight hours of sleep per night, every night, and then add a little more until you’re waking up refreshed before your alarm goes off in the morning.  If you feel you need a little extra, take a 20 minute nap before 2 p.m.  Truly, there are no shortcuts when it comes to sleep.