With every NBA Finals game starting at 8:30 p.m., watching the Knicks vie for the title is going to inevitably leave legions of fans staying up way past their bedtimes. So how can you root for the team to win its first championship in 53 years and function the next day?

Dr. Yi Cai is a sleep expert and the director of sleep surgery at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center. She gave us some practical advice on how to tackle the problem of basketball-related exhaustion.

Dr. Cai’s comments below have been lightly edited for clarity and flow.

I would look at this as a bit of a marathon, preparing for multiple nights where you might be alternating between sleep deprivation and hopefully recovery the next night. There are certain aspects of staying up for games and being excited about them that can interfere with sleep, and so that's really your recovery time for the next day. So if I were recovering after one of those types of nights, there are a few things I would do early in the morning.

Coffee and light

Once you get up, try to get some natural light in your system, because that really signals to your body that we're up for the day. Natural light is a good stimulant and also a source of energy. The second thing a lot of people will probably be doing is hitting the caffeine. Caffeine is also a great stimulant and source of energy early on in the day, and can help with overcoming some of that fatigue, especially that sensation of not quite feeling ready.

Nap it up

Brief naps can actually improve alertness, fatigue and even cognitive performance. The main thing to keep in mind with the naps is you don't want them to be too long because you don't want to get into full sleep cycles. But in the range of 20 or even 30 minutes is great. Some people actually have some caffeine before a nap, then once you wake up, the caffeine has kicked in, and then you get that extra boost from the nap.

Game day

If you’re watching at home, try to prepare things for going to bed as much as possible afterwards. If you’re watching the games on electronic devices or laptops, there are actually ways to create a blue light filter so that you're not getting as much blue light from screen exposure, and that can help prepare the body better for sleep because blue light is a signal to the body that, "Hey, it's time to be awake and get ready for the game."

Trying to avoid alcohol or cut it off as early in the night as possible is beneficial because alcohol can cut into some of the deepest stages of sleep, so that's not great. There are also a lot of opportunities for snacking. But even eating late can be a signal to the body that, "Hey, we're still staying up. It's not quite time for bed." So, trying to curb some of those signals to the body that it's not quite time to go to sleep can be helpful.

How much is enough?

On average, we recommend adults sleep seven to nine hours per night. For people who are younger, even more sleep is considered normal. So I'd say anything less than seven, then we're, we're getting into sleep deprivation territory for sure.

Sleep or fun?

I think there's a benefit health-wise to also having fun and enjoying life and spending time with friends. So it's all about a balance and trade-off. But sustaining it for long periods of time is where we see some risks develop to your overall health. But I'd say if this is going to be a temporary period and people are going to pay attention to the recovery days and recovery opportunities. Overall, we don't see evidence that these shorter periods of intermittent sleep deprivation lead to significant long-term issues.