Spoiler Alert: It’s not good.
It was 4.30 in the morning.
It was still dark and the streets were quiet apart from the occasional car passing by and lost folk like me wandering around, cases rumbling behind us noisily on the pavement.
This is probably the best time to see London, I thought. Except, I was still on my journey to where I needed to be.
And I was tired. Beyond tired, but still with an element of adrenaline surging, driving me forward.
Fourteen hours before, I had been sitting on a passenger jet, tray table stowed, seat belt tightened, anticipating the gentle whump of tyres meeting tarmac, as we were coming in to land at Heathrow.
I was so looking forward to getting off the plane and checking into my hotel for a good night’s sleep before driving to the Midlands for a conference I was due to speak at. The overnight flight from Perth to Singapore to the UK had already taken over 20 hours and I had only slept fitfully in that time.
Long-distance travel is common. I’ve undertaken many journeys like this before.
I do all those things advised for self-care on planes, like drinking lots of water to stay hydrated, getting up regularly to stretch my legs (and go to the loo) and do some squats in whatever space was available (which can be a bit tricky, but I no longer care about being seen doing my on-board calisthenics) and attempting to sleep according to my destination’s time.
There was no reassuring “whump.”
Instead, I sensed the engines picking up power, and then the captain announced that due to an “incident” at Heathrow, the airport was closed and we would be diverting… to Frankfurt!
An incident?
A terrorist attack? Drones flying where they shouldn’t? An accident? The weather?
No one had any idea.
We didn’t land at Frankfurt. Too many other planes were trying to do the same thing. There was no room there to land.
So we did a big loop around to Paris.
If you’ve ever been caught up in a diversion, you’ll know, it can take a very long time to sort things out. There were about 400 people on board, and we were all wondering the same thing, how long is this all going to take while the airline was desperately trying to find a solution on what to do with us all.
Hours later, after waiting for coaches to take us to the UK, we found ourselves travelling through the night to Calais and Le Shuttle, and ultimately arriving at Victoria Station in the wee hours, to find the station closed, making onward travel longer again. Overall, it was an extra 17 hours added to our travel time.
What was most remarkable was how everyone stayed calm, stoically accepting the situation (maybe through gritted teeth) and looked out for others. I felt desperately sorry for young parents travelling with small children, and for the frail elderly who looked exhausted.
That’s not the end of my travel story, but it was similar to the one being experienced by hundreds of thousands of passengers whose travel plans were severely disrupted that day.
The time wasted was one thing, but the biggest disruption was the sleep deprivation from two nights of very little sleep and the impact it had on my ability to function.
Cognitively, I was a basket case!
The impact of sleep deprivation on cognition.
One of the biggest issues with sleep deprivation is that you lose sight of just how tired you are.
Thinking becomes much harder work.
You can’t recall information – like, what time do I have to pick up the hire car and where do I go to do that?
Poorer judgement.
You haven’t slept for two days but you still think it’s appropriate to get behind the steering wheel of a car. Not a risk, you tell yourself. I’ll just drive more slowly and take more breaks…
The risk of microsleeps.
There are times when I think how good it would be to be a dolphin, capable of uni-hemispheric sleep. Sadly, without that capability, our human brains, when in desperate need of sleep, take matters into their own hands.
A microsleep is a very brief, involuntary episode of sleep that lasts from a fraction of a second up to 15 seconds (luckily rarely past 30 seconds), during which the brain temporarily stops processing external information. You might have your eyes open, but there’s no one at home.
And you definitely don’t want this to be happening when driving on a Motorway.
Emotional dysregulation
The acute fatigue associated with lack of sleep means there is a risk of it affecting your mood and ability to keep it all together. No, I didn’t cry, but let’s just say I wouldn’t have been the best company. Grumpy, intolerant of other people around me and somewhat frustrated probably sums it up best.
Reduced cognitive performance
Oh dear.
I’ve been in the conference world for many years.
Preparation for which, is something that’s second nature to me.
This was a short presentation. I’d rehearsed it carefully to ensure I wouldn’t go overtime (cardinal sin in the presentation world). I’d sent through my slides, and I was eagerly looking forward to sharing my thoughts. I was ready. Or so I thought.
But even after a night’s sleep at the accommodation at the conference venue, I knew my brain was not behaving normally.
Afterwards my speech, I was congratulated by some on what I had shared with the audience.
But what was the reality?
I had no idea whether what I had said made any sense or if I had got all my points across.
Recovery takes a while.
I didn’t feel right for the entire time I was at the event (three days). On the morning I left the venue, my brain felt suddenly clearer. I was getting back to normal.
Acute sleep deprivation following a single all-nighter or 24-48 hours without sleep will typically take one to three days to recover from.
Night one of recovery
I slept for 11 hours, only getting up because I had to get ready for the conference.
You can think of it like a rebound. Your brain puts you straight into increasing the amount of time spent in deep sleep and REM sleep.
Night two and three of recovery
Things start to return to normal. This is accompanied by a drop in the stress hormone cortisol and cognitive function improves (but may not be fully recovered).
This is just a rough guide. More severe acute sleep deprivation will take longer. Think of it like jet lag, where it takes 24 hours to slide your body clock forward by an hour. I had the wicked combination of acute sleep deprivation and jet lag.
Definitely not recommended!
Feeling off for three days was not fun.
Sleep is non-negotiable. Period.
Getting sufficient restorative sleep is one of the six pillars of Lifestyle Medicine.
Beyond being essential for normal cognition, it’s vital to every hormonal system in the body and serves to keep your body and mind functioning normally.
Poor or fragmented sleep is associated with poorer health including,
- An increased risk of mental illness and emotional dysregulation such as anxiety or depression.
- An increased risk of heart disease.
- An increased risk of gaining weight (due to disruption of the hormones controlling appetite and satiety).
- An increased risk of contracting a communicable disease.
That’s why a lifestyle medicine practitioner will want to enquire about your sleep pattern, to ascertain if there’s room for improvement to either keep you well and firing on all 8 cylinders or to discover whether making some changes to your sleep can assist you to recover from illness.
There are many things that can help you here that you may or may not already be aware of:
1. Know how much sleep you need.
We are all different, meaning our requirements will be different too. If you know you function best on 8 hours, tweaking your going to bed and waking time can ensure you meet your sleep goals.
2. You cannot train yourself to do with less sleep.
Don’t kid yourself. It’s not worth the damage it does to your overall health and well-being.
3. Stay active.
Being sufficiently active across the day will help you sleep more soundly, especially if you can get outside for 20-30 minutes every day.
4. Manage your stress.
Easy to say, harder to achieve but if you’ve got a lot on your plate and you’re feeling stressed or overwhelmed, it’s time to tap into your stress-less toolbox, whether it’s taking time out just for you, doing some Yoga or meditation, listening to music or taking the dog for a walk.
Writing down what needs to be done for the following day has been shown to help some. This can lower the risk of your brain going into overdrive at 1 am trying to resolve all those issues that haven’t been solved but essentially revolve like a long-playing record on endless repeat.
5. Avoid sleep poisons
Caffeine, alcohol and smoking are the worst culprits.
But let’s not forget the influence of late night scrolling and texting.
6. Don’t beat yourself up.
Sometimes things go wrong with our sleep.
Often this will resolve.
But if it’s not getting better, it’s far preferable to put your hand up for help to avoid chronic insomnia developing.
Tempting as it may feel, sleep tablets are not recommended and may worsen the problem.
Whereas cognitive therapy programs for sleep disturbance are highly effective.
Acute sleep deprivation is a health hazard.
Whether you’re travelling, over-working or stressed out, aiming to get a good night’s sleep should always be our top priority.
I’d love to know.
What have you found helpful to manage acute sleep deprivation?
If you’re a health practitioner interested in learning more about how integrating Lifestyle Medicine principles into your clinical practice can assist you and your patients to stay healthy, we’d love to see you at the LM26 conference in Hobart this November.
It’s three days to immerse yourself into “The Nature of Health,” to hear from experts, and meet other like-minded practitioners, who recognise the importance of putting prevention first.
Tickets are still available here.
