Is It so Bad to Sleep Late on Weekends?
In a perfect world, we would all go to bed on time, enjoy seven to nine hours of sleep, and wake up refreshed at the same time every morning. But while that might be the goal, I guess most of us enjoy the extra sleepiness that the day off allows. So how bad is it to sleep on weekends?
It depends if you get enough sleep
“If you need to sleep on the weekend, which is more than an hour more than usual, then it shows that you do not get enough sleep during the week,” says sleep scientist Amy Bender . And that – more than the alarm time itself – is likely to be your problem.
For many of us, waking hours differ by two hours or more between weekends and work or school days, which suggests that our biological clock is out of sync with the schedule we are forced to live by. Sometimes referred to as social jet lag , this phenomenon is particularly hard on adolescents and anyone who is a born owl. (Many of us wake up better in the morning as we get older.)
There are a number of studies to show that inconsistent sleep times can be worse for our bodies than getting less sleep, but be consistent about this. If this is true, then this would be an argument in favor of having alarms set at the same time every morning. However, this study is “not necessarily definitive,” Bender says, so she would not recommend deliberately sleeping less in the name of consistency. “I think more research is needed.”
If you are having trouble getting to bed earlier, sleep can make up for lost sleep. Bender recommends two types, depending on how much time you have and how much sleep you need:
- A 90 minute nap will allow you to fall asleep completely, including REM sleep. For best results, do not set an alarm.
- A 20 minute nap will help relieve any fatigue. Set your alarm for 30 minutes so you have some time to calm down and relax before you close your eyes.
You can “postpone” sleep for later.
If there is something in your schedule that you know will lead to less sleep – like traveling or an early morning race – you can postpone sleep ahead of time. This can mean going to bed early for several nights in a row. “You have an excess of sleep in which you can fully fall asleep,” Bender says, “and that helps you cope with sleep deprivation.” She especially recommends that athletes protect sleep before competition.
While it is probably best to get a good night’s sleep if you can, banking is still a strategy that can help if you know you will find it difficult to get enough sleep on a certain day. Think about sleeping and going to bed early, not just bedtime, but it is possible that getting a lot of sleep on the weekends will help you not feel too tired at the end of the week.