Sleeping in late on the weekend sounds delicious, right? However, as with many delicious things, there may be a cost to your health and waistline.
Catching up on sleep on the weekend can almost feel like the norm these days. With increasingly full schedules and competing demands, sleep is often sacrificed during the busy workweek. As the week comes to an end, many people look to the less structured weekend to cram in what couldn’t be done during the week, including sleep.
In the sleep clinic, we ask “When do you get up on work (or school) days?” and “What about bedtime and wake-up time on days off?” The catch-up time — perhaps a 6 am wake-up for a workday, but 11 am on a weekend — can be close to an entire weeknight’s sleep.
But does it matter? We’re paying back our sleep debt, right?
Despite the fact that number of hours of sleep when averaged may approach the seven to nine hours per night recommended by most professional societies the average can hide some truths The daily amount quality and regularity of bedwake time all seem to matter too
A recent paper in Current Biology shows that our sleep is not very forgiving of being moved around to more convenient times Researchers found that subjects who cut their sleep down by five hours during the week but made up for it on the weekend with extra sleep still paid a cost
That cost included measurable differences excess calorie intake after dinner reduced energy expenditure increased weight and detrimental changes in how the body uses insulin
Although sleep debt was resolved on paper the weekend catch up subjects had similar results though there were some differences to those who remained sleep deprived across a weekend without catch up sleep
New research is a reminder that you cant cheat on sleep and get away with it
First sleep deprivation even if only during the workweek likely has real health consequences Sleep is often an overlooked factor when considering chronic disease risk including hypertension diabetes heart disease and even death Theres ample data including a recent review in Sleep Medicine suggesting that too little sleep is a risk factor for these conditions as well as obesity
Unfortunately this new study suggests that extending sleep on the weekend doesnt seem to undo the impact of short sleep
Second whether the health impact is due to the decreased sleep alone or additionally due to changes in timing of sleep on the weekend an at home jet lag is unknown
The impact of essentially jumping time zones by staying up later and sleeping later on weekends may add to the problem Other behaviors such as eating or drinking later on weekends also confuse the bodys rhythm
What can you do to improve nightly sleep
As with a lot of medicine prevention seems to be the best strategy Although we cant undo the impact of short sleep by trying to oversleep on the weekends we can try to carve out a bit more time for sleep at night during the week and improve behaviors that lead to better sleep
Its very important to keep bedtime and wake time fairly stable across the weekend which may also help reduce the jet lag effect Short naps of 15 to 20 minutes may help relieve sleepiness but shouldnt interfere with the regularity of bedtime and wake time
For some people keeping a sleep log to track sleep patterns can be eye opening and provide accountability in the same way that tracking food choices and behaviors around eating can help with weight loss Finally consider re framing your relationship with sleep and prioritize it
Sleep is preventive medicine we know it helps reduce illness and optimizes your daily well being Alaska Sleep Clinic is ready to help you improve your sleep and improve your life Contact us this week
