Fortunately, there are many options available that help.

Many environmental factors can counteract theeffects of sleep loss, working to activate our brain’s arousal system.

Some are obvious and others may surprise you.

Sleep obviously eases sleepiness from sleep deprivation and it may be important to get 7 to 8 hours each night to feel rested

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Sleep deprivation happens when we do not sleep enough.

We each have individual sleep needs, and the average amount of sleep changes over our lifetime.

You may not need a great deal of recovery sleep to feel better.

Activity including exercise may promote wakefulness during periods of sleepiness from sleep deprivation

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After acute sleep loss, a single night of 8 hours of sleep may be sufficient.

Younger people may take slightly longer to recover from prolonged sleep deprivation.

Activity

The next option to treat sleep deprivation is the opposite of sleep: activity.

Sunlight or the use of a light box may promote wakefulness, especially in the darker winter months

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Bright Light

The exposure tobright lighthas important effects on your body’scircadian rhythm.

The results of research studies are somewhat mixed in regards to how effective this might actually be.

Some show that light is effective in shifting circadian rhythms, which might allow you to stay awake longer.

Ambien noise in the environment may keep a person awake

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(This is also called increasedsleep latency.)

There may be some benefit, but unfortunately, it is rather modest.

When we hear something, our brain responds by making us slightly more alert.

Posture can impact the ability to fall asleep and lying down makes it more likely a person will doze off

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We generally respond best to novel stimuli.

In other words, we tune out background noise when we are exposed to it for long enough.

New sounds, however, draw our attention.

Caffeine from a cup of coffee may help to relieve sleepiness related to sleep deprivation

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Noise, therefore, may be somewhat helpful in alerting us.

If you sing along, it may be of even greater benefit.

Indeed, simply sitting upright can have the same impact.

Motivation or interest may reduce the impact of sleep deprivation

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This has to do with the activation of something called the sympathetic nervous system.

The sympathetic nervous system controls automatic body functions such as heart rate and pupil dilation.

Therefore, it is quite effective at increasing alertness and counteracting the effects of sleep deprivation.

Scouts feel sleepy and fall asleep, despite being in a group in a public setting

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Caffeine

Aside from simply getting more sleep, the best single treatment for sleep deprivation may becaffeine.

It is widely available and relatively inexpensive, making it a reliable and often used remedy for sleep deprivation.

A boring lecture or meeting at work may be just the thing to put you right to sleep.

This improved vigilance persisted for the first 36 hours of sleep loss.

This might be as basic as holding a conversation, in which multiple alerting prompts and responses occur.

The impact may be most helpful when at least some of the members of the group are well rested.

A Word From Verywell

Commit yourself to meeting your sleep needs.

make a run at get at least 7 to 8 hours of sleep every night.

And always remember:Never drive drowsy.

It is simply not worth the risk.

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