With our secondย May bank holiday weekendย done and dusted, weโve officially mastered the art of a lie in โ that was until our alarms jolted us awake early this morning.
Yet, while many of us struggle to get the recommended seven to eight hours of sleep per night during the week, the good news is we can catch up on sleep overย the weekend.
A newย study, published in theย Journal of Sleep Research, found that people who get too little sleep (less than five hours per night) during the week hadย an increased risk of early death compared to those who slept over six hours per night.
However, the large-scale study of 40,000 subjects over a 13-year periodย also found that people who get too little sleep during the week but catch up on it over the weekend do not have that same risk.
The study authors wrote: โThe results imply that short (weekday) sleep is not a risk factor for mortality if it is combined with a medium or long weekend sleep.
โThis suggests that short weekday sleep may be compensated for during the weekend, and that this has implications for mortality.โ
While this doesnโt apply to people who get the recommended amount of sleep during the week, itโs good news for those who get minimal amounts of week night shut eye โ proving that you really can โcatch upโ on sleep.
However, there is such a thing as gettingย too muchย sleep. The study also found those who sleep for more than eight hours per night have a higher risk of early death than those who sleep for six or seven hours.
So if you’re struggling to sleep during the week, make sure you switch you alarm clocks off atย the weekend.
UK EVENING STANDARD
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