Unless you have a very rare gene, you need 7 to 9 hours of sleep per night to be at your best. Sleeping less than you need accumulates sleep debt. How do you know if you’re sleeping enough? You regularly wake up well-rested without an alarm.

For the rest of us, keep in mind that sleep debt comes with interest. What does this mean? If you are short on sleep all week and make it up on the weekend, you still lose something. It’s like borrowing money to buy a car. After you’ve paid off the loan, you paid more for the car than if you paid cash at the start. No matter what you do, you can’t get that interest back.

Are you carrying the burden of sleep debt?