Sleep is the only antidote for the effects of sleep loss. Fortunately, ‘owed’ sleep does not need
to be made up hour-for-hour. For example, losing a total of 18 hours sleep across a fortnight
does not require a 26-hour sleep. Instead, recovery sleep is usually only a bit longer than the
baseline sleep requirement and generally occurs over two consecutive nights. It is quality,
rather than quantity, that distinguishes recovery sleep.