The modern social calendar is often at odds with our biological requirements. Whether it is a holiday season, a string of late-night weddings, or the occasional weekend party, our internal systems pay a heavy price for social jetlag.

We often view the resulting exhaustion as a simple debt of hours, but as Dr Sneha S consultant internal medicine at Manipal Hospital, Kanakpura Road, Bengaluru, explains, the reality is far more disruptive. “When our schedules shift abruptly, our internal clocks become desynchronised, leading to sleep that is light, fragmented, and fundamentally unable to perform its restorative functions,” she shares. Repairing a shattered sleep schedule is not a matter of sheer willpower or ‘catching up’ on a Sunday morning. Instead, it requires a strategic realignment of the biological signals—light, temperature, and metabolism—that govern our circadian rhythms.

The great debate: Cold turkey versus gradual shifts

When Monday morning arrives after a weekend of late-night festivities, the most common dilemma is whether to force ourselves out of bed at the usual time or to sleep in and adjust slowly. According to Dr Salil Bendre, director of pulmonology and sleep medicine at Nanavati Max Super Speciality Hospital in Mumbai, there is no one-size-fits-all clinical answer.