WEBVTT - Can You Really Catch Up on Sleep?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works, Hey, brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>Lauren Vogelbaum. Here good news for people who use their

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<v Speaker 1>days off as they are intended to rest up after

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<v Speaker 1>a busy week. It turns out those compensatory zas are

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<v Speaker 1>far more beneficial than previously thought, according to a Swedish

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<v Speaker 1>study published in in April issue of the Journal of

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<v Speaker 1>Sleep Research. The study looked at more than forty three

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<v Speaker 1>thousand people who participated in the Swedish National March cohort,

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<v Speaker 1>which began in follow up for every subject continued until

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<v Speaker 1>they died, moved away, or December, when the study officially closed.

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<v Speaker 1>The researchers for the sleep study pulled relevant data from

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<v Speaker 1>the cohort questionnaire about basic sleep habits, like how many

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<v Speaker 1>hours approximately participants sleep on a workday night, as well

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<v Speaker 1>as how many hours they snooze per night on days

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<v Speaker 1>off of work. Response increments ranged from less than five

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<v Speaker 1>hours to greater than nine hours. Previous studies have shown

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<v Speaker 1>that people who consistently sleep too little short sleep is

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<v Speaker 1>defined as five hours or less a night, or too

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<v Speaker 1>much long sleep is nine or more hours per night,

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<v Speaker 1>have higher mortality rates than people who fall into the

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<v Speaker 1>Goldilocks zone in between getting just the right amount of

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<v Speaker 1>sleep every night. However, the authors of the study point

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<v Speaker 1>out that few, if any, of those studies have asked

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<v Speaker 1>participants to differentiate between week day and weekend sleep, which

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<v Speaker 1>makes a big difference, they wrote, in the current study,

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<v Speaker 1>because there are five week days and two weekend days,

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<v Speaker 1>it is likely that self reports of typical sleep duration

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<v Speaker 1>more strongly reflect weekday sleep. Thus, it is of interest

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<v Speaker 1>to investigate the relationship between weekend sleep duration and mortality,

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<v Speaker 1>as well as the different patterns of sleep duration between

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<v Speaker 1>week day and weekend sleep. When the researchers looked at

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<v Speaker 1>all of the data, findings were consistent with previous conclusions

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<v Speaker 1>of increased mortality if both week day and weekend sleep

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<v Speaker 1>are short or when both are long. However, they wrote,

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<v Speaker 1>when weekend sleep is extended after short weekday sleep, no

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<v Speaker 1>association with mortality is seen. We suggest that this may

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<v Speaker 1>reflect positive effects of compensatory sleep. Experts have long advised

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<v Speaker 1>people to get up at the same time each day,

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<v Speaker 1>even on weekends, as a long term strategy for getting

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<v Speaker 1>better sleep each night. The theory is that yo yoing

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<v Speaker 1>sleep habits disturb your circadian rhythms. Dr David Ding's was

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<v Speaker 1>not involved in this sleep study, but he's the chief

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<v Speaker 1>of the Division of Sleep in Chronobiology at the University

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<v Speaker 1>of Pennsylvania Perlman School of Medicine. He told Time Magazine,

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<v Speaker 1>the real question is whether there is in fact a

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<v Speaker 1>build up of deficit or biological changes that are gradual

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<v Speaker 1>over time, even though you get recovery sleep. So while

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<v Speaker 1>this study is great news for those of us who

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<v Speaker 1>like to sleep in on days off, many sleep experts

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<v Speaker 1>say more studies need to be done on this subject.

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<v Speaker 1>Today's episode was written by Alia Hoyt and produced by

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<v Speaker 1>Tyler Clang. For more on this and lots of other

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<v Speaker 1>topics that may or may not reinforce your current habits,

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<v Speaker 1>visit our home planet, how stuff works dot com.