Maybe it is Possible to Catch Up on Sleep Afterall

I sleep in late whenever I can. I don’t pull of 11 or even noon like I did as a teenager anymore, but if I can stay in bed until 9 I’m going to go for it. I struggle to get to bed early enough to get a good nights sleep. Despite trying   the general recommendations like staying away from screens, caffeine, going to bed and waking up at the same time consistently I just can’t seem to fall asleep before about midnight.  But regardless of when I start sawing logs, I still have to get up for work in the morning.

For the past few years it seems like everything I’ve read about sleep says people are supposed to stick to a strict sleep schedule every day. I hate that with a fiery passion. Sleeping in on the weekends just feels too great. It turns out you might actually be able catch up on sleep by sleeping in on the weekend.

From  Shondaland:

Researchers at Stockholm University discovered that adults who logged up to five hours of sleep every night increased their risk of mortality. However, when people who only slept five hours a night during the week compensated by snoozing nine hours a night on the weekends, their risk of death did not increase.

To conduct the study – which was published in the  Journal of Sleep Research   – scientists looked at data on sleep habits collected from more than 43,000 people under 65 years old. Then, they studied death records taken 13 years after the initial data was obtained to determine if and how sleep habits impacted mortality. Of course, other factors like education, body mass index, and smoking can take years off your life, so they accounted for those, too. Their conclusion? “Long weekend sleep may compensate for short weekday sleep.”