It’s happened to all of us. Whether due to circumstances outside our control or on purpose, sooner or later we are going to have bad nights of sleep. We get to bed too late or have fragmented sleep throughout the night. The one that gets me is staying out late for a concert. What am I going to stop going to concerts? I don’t think so.

When you have a bad night of sleep, what should you do?

1. Avoid sleeping later that morning. Wake up at your normal time instead of trying to “catch up” by sleeping later. The reason is that when you sleep later in the morning, you won’t be tired until later that evening. For example, if you sleep two hours later in the morning, that will delay your onset of sleep for two hours that evening. This will lead to shifting your bedtime schedule later and waking up later.
2. Avoid napping during the day after a bad night of sleep. It will be very tempting to take a nap sometime during the day. Don’t do it. Again, it’s short-term vs long-term pay-off. You may feel great after the nap, but there is a major chance that you will find it hard to get to sleep at your normal time that evening.
3. Use caffeine strategically. You will probably need it that morning because you’ll feel pretty rough. The recommendation is to stop drinking caffeine 14 hours before bedtime. For most people caffeine has a half-life of six hours and a quarter-life of twelve hours. For example, if you have a cup of coffee at noon, at 6 PM half the caffeine is still in your system, and at midnight one-quarter of the caffeine is still in your system. Of course, this varies by individual. Some people can drink a quad latte at dinner and sleep like a baby.
4. Go easy on physical activity. After a poor night of sleep, your body has not had the proper recovery to make exercise effective. In fact, any strenuous activity could actually be detrimental if you are not fully recovered. Take it easy and save the heavy workout for when you are fully rested and recovered.

In summary, after a bad night of sleep, you should take the hit. Realize that you won’t have an optimum day and that’s okay. The important thing is to recover as quickly as possible and return to your regular sleep schedule as soon as possible.