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Daily Record
Daily Record
Lifestyle
Ariane Sohrabi-Shiraz & Nicola Roy

What is 'sleep debt' as doctor explains why you may feel tired after heatwave

Many parts of Scotland and the rest of the UK experienced a sweltering hot June, with heatwave status being achieved for several different areas.

And although the higher temperatures meant more time outdoors with loved ones, it also wreaked havoc on sleeping patterns, as the warm and clammy nights made it difficult to drift off.

Even though the mercury has now dropped significantly and the rain has started to roll in again, you might find you're still more tired than you would normally be when you wake up.

This was more understandable during the heatwave, as a doctor revealed that our bodies have to work harder to cool us down, resulting in more fatigue.

But if you've still not managed to break free from the heatwave tiredness, there's a good explanation for how you're feeling, the Mirror reports.

You could be suffering from something called 'sleep debt' - meaning you aren't getting as much shut-eye as you need to function.

Dr Guy Meadows from Sleep School explained that the heatwave may have meant going "above and beyond" your "normal sleep debt".

He explained: "Nearly three quarters of the population walk around with a sleep debt anyway – as in they're not achieving their biological sleep need, which is roughly seven to eight hours a night for most of us. So we can all already do with sleeping a bit more, but during the heatwave, we were struggling to sleep even more."

Many of us will have found it much harder to get to sleep during the heatwave (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

While we are awake, our brains release a chemical called adenosine which helps us to fall asleep when it comes to night time.

Guy continued: "The more adenosine you have in your system, the more sleepy you feel. If you then get your eight hours of sleep, your adenosine is metabolised from the brain, and you wake up feeling refreshed."

But if we don't get enough sleep, the chemicals don't metabolise, meaning we feel groggy in the morning - contributing to the 'sleep debt effect'.

The good news is that you can reverse this, but it's important to be careful about how you do it.

Dr Meadows said: "What I would definitely not recommend is people go and have a big, long lie-in, because what that does is cause 'social jetlag'. Put simply, big lie-ins 'upset' our circadian rhythm or natural 'body clock', which also leads to ongoing grogginess."

Instead, it's advised that you "repay your debt in small chunks over a period of time". Doing it little by little over the course of a week will help to repay the sleep debt.

In addition to sleep debt, you're likely also tired because heatwaves mean our bodies have to work harder to stay cool.

GP and mental health coach Dr Hana Patel said: "As a GP, I often have people asking me why they feel more tired in hot weather.

"We sweat more in hot weather, as this process allows our skin to cool when the sweat evaporates. Another of our body's natural physiological responses is to allow more blood to flow to the surface of the skin, to release heat. Both of these actions take up a lot of energy, increasing our heart rate and burning calories, making us feel extremely tired and sleepy."

While the worst of the heat might be over, it's still warm, meaning our bodies are still getting used to it.

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