Sleeping in on weekends may backfire for sleep-deprived

by WorldTribune Staff, March 4, 2019

Those looking to catch up on sleep by getting some extra shut-eye on the weekend may be in for a rude awakening, researchers say.

Weekday sleep loss had negative effects on people’s metabolism and “catch-up” sleep on the weekend did not reverse it, HealthDay News reported, citing a recent study published in the journal Current Biology.

There were signs that extra sleep on the weekends could make matters worse, said senior study author Kenneth Wright, a professor at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

The bottom line, according to Wright, is that people need to consistently get sufficient sleep.

“If you want to lead a healthy lifestyle,” he said, “that has to include good sleep habits.”

The study, published on Feb. 28, included 36 healthy young adults. They were randomly assigned to one of three groups that all spent nine nights in the study’s sleep lab.

One group was allowed to sleep for up to 9 hours each night. A second could sleep only 5 hours. The third group was allowed 5 hours of sleep for five days, then a weekend “recovery” period where they could sleep in as late as they wanted; after that, they returned to 5 hours of sleep for two nights.

Wright’s team found that in both sleep-deprived groups, people lost some of their sensitivity to insulin, a hormone that regulates blood sugar. They also began to eat more at night and gained some weight, on average.
The group that was allowed to sleep in on the weekend saw one benefit: There was less late-night eating on those days.

However, they went right back to post-dinner munching once they returned to 5-hour nights. And their insulin sensitivity remained impaired.

In addition, Wright said, they showed decreased insulin sensitivity in the liver and muscles, specifically – which was not seen in the group that got no catch-up sleep over the weekend.

Over time, decreased insulin sensitivity can be a precursor to type 2 diabetes. A number of studies have linked chronic sleep loss to heightened risks of diabetes and obesity, Wright noted.

Sleep specialists recommend that adults get 7 or more hours of sleep each night for the sake of their overall health. Yet, studies show that more than one-third of U.S. adults fall short of that goal.

Dr. Phyllis Zee, a sleep specialist and professor at Northwestern University School of Medicine, in Chicago, said, “We tend to buy into the myth that by ‘catching up’ on sleep on weekends, we’ll [reverse] the adverse effects of repeated sleep loss.”

But, according to Zee, who was not involved in the new research, “the results of this study support that it is indeed a myth. In fact, even the muscle and liver ‘remember’ the adverse and persistent effects of sleep loss.”

It’s true, Wright said, that real life can get in the way of optimal sleep. But he added that people should take an honest look at their habits and see if they can make time for a good night’s sleep.


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