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Everyone wants a good excuse for sleeping in over the weekend, and now scientists have just provided one. A recent study has shown the benefits of a weekend lie-in to catch up on sleep missed during the week. The bad news is that the extra sleep is too little, too late for some of the brain’s functions – but extra sleep can work significantly to improve alertness – sounds like reason enough for another hour or two in bed.

What sleep helps… and what it doesn’t

After extra time for sleep, the study’s sleep-deprived participants began to increase their behavioural alertness. The fact remained, though, that the catch-up sleep simply couldn’t do what a good nightly rest could: even after ten hours in bed, the subjects of the research project still experienced more fatigue, a worse attention span, and slower reaction times than a control group who had a long night’s sleep every night.

More is more?

The study also took a look at just how much extra sleep is needed to catch up on missed nightly shut-eye. Researchers tested subjects after different amounts of catch-up rest, and found that even those getting the lowest amount were still more alert than they had been previously. However, it was also found that the more extra sleep they had, the better they responded.

Sleep it off

The moral of the story seems to be that if you’ve had a long week it’s a good idea to recharge a little by sleeping in on the weekend – but that nothing beats a good night’s sleep, every night. If you’re not getting enough sleep on week nights, plan your time so that you can get into bed a little earlier, and at the same time every night, to increase your chances of being well-rested.

Tags: sleep, sleeping