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The middle of the night

What to do the day after a bad night's sleep

The instinct is to sleep in, nap, cancel things and go to bed early. Each of those makes the next night more likely to go the same way. Here is what to do instead.

4 min read

Last reviewed October 7, 2026

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After a bad night, the instinct is to recover: sleep in, nap, cancel the evening, go to bed early. Each of those is understandable, and each makes the next night more likely to go the same way. The day after a bad night is where the pattern of insomnia is either broken or reinforced.

Here is what to do instead - and the one situation where you should not push through.

What to do instead

Get up at your usual time

This is the most important one, and the hardest.

Sleep is regulated by two systems: a body clock that sets the timing, and sleep pressure that builds the longer you are awake. Getting up at your usual time does two things. It keeps the clock anchored, and it starts the sleep pressure building on schedule, so there is enough of it by tonight. How those two systems work.

Sleeping in to make up for it does the opposite. You wake later, pressure builds later, and you are not sleepy at bedtime - which sets up a second bad night.

Do not nap

A nap releases the sleep pressure the next night needs. For someone who sleeps well, that may not matter. For someone with insomnia it often means taking longer to fall asleep and waking more. Why naps work against you.

But do not drive drowsy

This is the exception, and it overrides everything above. Sleep loss impairs vigilance in ways that have been measured objectively. If you are too sleepy to drive or work safely, do not. Rearrange the drive, take a break, or ask someone else. No sleep rule is worth an accident.

Keep your plans

Cancelling things to rest tends to mean a day spent dwelling on how tired you are, which feeds the worry that keeps insomnia going. Most people function better after one bad night than they expect to. Keeping the day as normal as possible is also evidence to yourself that a bad night is survivable - which matters more than it sounds. Why the fear of not sleeping makes it worse.

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Get light and movement

Get outside in the morning if you can, and move during the day. Both help you feel more alert, and both help keep your body clock on track. When you feel the mid-afternoon dip, get up rather than settling somewhere comfortable.

Keep caffeine to the morning

Caffeine can help you get through the day. Keep it early, so that it is not still working against you at bedtime.

Go to bed when sleepy, not early

Going to bed early "to catch up" usually means lying awake longer - and time awake in bed is exactly what teaches your brain that the bed is for being awake. Wait until you are genuinely sleepy, heavy-eyed and nodding, not just tired. The difference between tired and sleepy.

If you are awake for what feels like a long time, get up and do something quiet elsewhere until sleepiness returns. What to do at 2am.

Do not judge the night yet

One bad night says almost nothing about the pattern. It is the response to it - the lie-in, the nap, the early night - that turns one bad night into a bad week. If bad nights have become most nights, for months, that is a pattern worth treating rather than managing day by day. What CBT-I is.

The rest of this section covers what happens at night.

Somnera is a self-guided education program built on CBT-I, founded and written by Dr. Camilo Ruiz, DO, FACOI, FAASM. It is not a diagnosis and does not replace care from your own clinician. The assessment is free and takes about two minutes.

Citations

  • Borbély AA. A two process model of sleep regulation. Hum Neurobiol. 1982;1(3):195–204.
  • Kyle SD, et al. Sleep restriction therapy for insomnia is associated with reduced objective total sleep time, increased daytime somnolence, and objectively impaired vigilance. Sleep. 2014;37(2):229–237. doi:10.5665/sleep.3386
  • Harvey AG. A cognitive model of insomnia. Behav Res Ther. 2002;40(8):869–893. doi:10.1016/s0005-7967(01)00061-4
  • Edinger JD, et al. Behavioral and psychological treatments for chronic insomnia disorder in adults: an American Academy of Sleep Medicine clinical practice guideline. J Clin Sleep Med. 2021;17(2):255–262. doi:10.5664/jcsm.8986

Frequently asked questions

No. Getting up at your usual time keeps your body clock anchored and lets sleep pressure build for the next night. Sleeping in shifts the problem into the following night.

Go to bed when you are sleepy, not just tired, and not by the clock. Going to bed early tends to mean more time lying awake, which is what keeps insomnia going.

For people with insomnia, napping usually spends the sleep pressure the next night needs. The exception is safety: if you are too sleepy to drive or work safely, do not push through.

Keep your normal schedule as far as you safely can, get light and movement, keep caffeine to the morning, and avoid driving if you feel drowsy. Most people function better than they expect after one bad night.

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