For adults who struggle to get the recommended amount of quality sleep, “catching up” on lost sleep on the weekends could significantly reduce their risk of heart disease, new research suggests.
Many people accumulate a “sleep debt” during the week and then try to make up for it by getting extra hours of sleep on the weekends. According to the Cleveland Clinic, a sleep debt is the difference between the amount of quality sleep you need (at least seven hours each night) and the amount of sleep you actually get.
In a new analysis presented at the European Society of Cardiology conference in London on Sunday, China-based cardiovascular researchers found that people who got the most sleep on the weekend were 19% less likely to develop heart disease compared with those who got the least amount of sleep over the two nights.
Previous studies have shown that lack of sleep can have negative health effects, but there's been little research on how getting extra sleep on the weekends can affect your heart.
Researchers from Beijing's National Key Laboratory of Infectious Diseases, Fuwai Hospital and the National Cardiovascular Center analysed data from 99,030 subjects who participated in the UK Biobank project.
The aim was to assess the relationship between “compensatory sleep”, defined as making up for sleep lost on weekends, and heart disease.
Participants were drawn from a large UK database including genetic and medical information and self-reported their sleep duration as part of the program. Around one in five were considered sleep deprived, defined as getting fewer than seven hours a night.
In the new study, participants were split into four groups based on how much extra, or “compensated,” sleep they were able to “catch up” on over the weekend.
The researchers followed up the participants using hospital records and cause of death registration information to see if they developed heart disease.
After an average of nearly 14 years of follow-up, participants who compensated by getting the most sleep on weekends (from just over an hour to about 16 hours) were 19% less likely to develop heart disease compared to those who slept the least on weekends.
The study has some limitations: It's an association, not proof that getting extra sleep on the weekends directly translates to better heart health, and other factors that weren't studied could be influencing the results, said Dr. Muhammad Adeel Rishi, an associate professor in the department of pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine at the Indiana University School of Medicine.
And experts say that even a few extra hours of sleep on the weekend may not reverse the effects of a large “sleep debt” accumulated over the week: A 2019 study found a link between sleep-compensating behaviors, increased snacking, and weight gain.
Sleeping longer on the weekends can only partially reduce sleep debt, Rishi says.
“For example, sleeping more on weekends may reduce fatigue and sleepiness, but it may not reduce obesity risk in people who are sleep-deprived,” said Rishi, who was not involved in the study.
A recent Gallup poll found that only 42% of American adults get the amount of sleep they need, and 57% say they would feel better if they got more sleep.
