Sleep experts reveal what to do after a bad night’s sleep – when you drink your coffee actually matters

ONE night of poor sleep can throw off your whole week and leave you scrambling to make up for lost time, energy, and patience.

Everybody logs a restless night once in a while or loses track of time during a movie night – even people who study sleep habits for a living.

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A panel of sleep experts has their best tactics for recovering from a bad night's sleep with LIVESTRONG. The consensus is a relief: one bad sleep doesn't have to ruin your week.

When the pros get a bad night of sleep, these strategies help experts recover quickly and face the day – and, when bedtime comes, make up the sleep deficit.

GET UP & GO OUT

The hardest part of getting up in the morning is, well, getting up.

But once you've done that, you're starting your day on the right foot, said Rebecca Robbins, Ph.D.

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Robbins, a sleep scientist at Brigham and Women's Hospital and instructor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, said that hitting snooze on your alarm clock is "wrong."

"The sleep you get after an alarm is poor quality," Robbins explained.

Instead, you should head outside as soon as possible, or at least throw open the windows and get some sunlight.

"Getting this light into your eyeballs is one of the best ways to kickstart the awake phase of your circadian rhythm," Robbins said.

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Better yet, once you're out of bed, you're already working to improve your next night of sleep.

"Over the course of the day, sleepiness builds like a clock. Each additional hour awake adds to that overall sense of sleepiness," Robbins said.

The process is called the "homeostatic drive," and the moment you get up, you "start that clock ticking."

WATER, COFFEE, HEALTHY FOODS

Shelby Harris, PsyD, is the author of ​The Women's Guide to Overcoming Insomnia​, as well as a working mom.

When she needs to be bright-eyed after a bleak night, she makes sure to drink water first thing. After a night with no water, you need to rehydrate before reaching for caffeine, she explained.

"The water helps to wake my system up," Harris said, especially if it's cold water with lemon.

After a glass of water, it's okay to grab a mug and fill it with your brew of choice.

"Coffee helps to give me more of a mental edge," Harris added.

Throughout the day, stay away from heavy foods, no matter how comforting they may seem.

Be especially mindful of what's on your plate at dinnertime, and if you can stick to mostly veggies and lean protein, you'll be grateful once bedtime hits.

When you're exhausted, "research shows that it's more difficult to figure out when you're full," Robbins said.

"Overeating will impact your sleep because your body will have to work on digesting that food overnight."

LET SOME THINGS GO

When you're awake enough to look at your to-do list, the first thing you should do is bump some things to the next day.

"One bad night isn't the end of the world," said Seema Khosla, MD, a spokesperson for the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and director of the North Dakota Center for Sleep.

If there are things you can skip – or things that you need to be at the top of your game to accomplish – it's better to wait, Dr. Khosla said.

"I know I don't function as well when I'm tired, so then I prioritize what needs to be done," she explained.

"If it is something really important, I'll leave that for another day when I'm sharper."

If you drop a meeting or errand from your list, replace it with a brief nap, up to 20 minutes, to "repay some of your sleep debt," Robbins said.

If you don't have time for a nap, or can't get comfortable enough to sleep, just rest with your eyes closed, Robbins advised.

PLAN AHEAD BEFORE BED

Before you head to bed, try to stick to a gentle wind-down routine. Cut off your caffeine after lunch, don't eat in the hour before bedtime, and put your phone on do not disturb.

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Planning your sleep strategy ahead of time, and working to stick with it, will help you get back in the groove.

"No one is a perfect sleeper. Sometimes I just need to treat myself like I would treat any of my patients and extend myself a little grace," Dr Khosla said.

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