What To Do If You Have A Bad Night Of Sleep

Hi, everyone. Hi, friends. Kimberly MD here. Coming at you for a quick sleep bite. And let me tell you, I did not feel like getting on video today because I had a bad night of sleep last night.

I woke up for the first time around 230, then again around 530, and I could not get back to sleep. I started thinking about all the things I needed to do during the day. Then I started panicking. What if I feel horrible and I can't do all of those things? And it was a downward spiral from there.

So after about 30 minutes, I went ahead and got up, got started with my day, and I'm pushing through. So I didn't want to do this video, but I thought, you know what? I bet some of you out there may have also not had good nights of sleep. And I wanted to share my top two tips for what to do if you get the day after a night where you get a bad night's sleep. So number one, don't panic.

So if you add the stress of what's going to happen today is going to be awful. It's just going to make the day worse. So you know you've done it before. You're going to survive. Have some grace for yourself, maybe clear a few things off of your schedule if you can, and just push through the day.

My second tip is don't nap. So if you feel sleepy during the day because of a bad night's sleep, and then you sleep during the day, then you're much more likely to perpetuate that cycle by not sleeping again the next night. Whereas if you don't nap, the opposite happens. You increase your sleep pressure over the course of the day, and you're much more likely to get back on schedule and fall asleep at your normal time and sleep through the night on night two. So, of course, if you have to do if you're doing something dangerous or have a long drive, you might take a quick, brief 15 minutes nap, but try to avoid any long naps to try to make up for your bad night of sleep.

So thanks for being with me. I'm pushing through. I'm at my desk, continuing to work for the day. But let me tell you, thank God it's Friday. Thanks for being with me.

See you next time.