Can we truly ‘catch up’ on sleep?

Consider Eliza’s sleep schedule. Eliza is a college student, who sleeps six hours every day due to the constraints of her job, sports practice, and schoolwork. Trudging through the week, she looks forward to the weekend when she can sleep in late and trade her weekday 8 a.m. for a weekend 12 p.m. She’s excited to catch up on her sleep and finally feel well-rested.

Eliza’s situation is not unique, in fact, she is part of the 30% of Americans that get less than six hours of sleep every night. Many of us might fall into the trap of waiting until the weekend to make up for lost sleep, but is it truly possible to “catch up” on sleep in this way?

Sleep is an important determinant of health and quality of life. Adequate sleep is crucial to ensuring balance in the body, supporting immune and growth functions, as well as affecting alertness and memory. In various studies, less than six hours of sleep a night correlates with increased mortality rates and a higher rate of a host of diseases affecting nearly every part of the body.

Sleep debt is the term for inadequate sleep. Over the course of a week, sleep debt may be high, but with the added extra “catch-up” sleep over the weekend, sleep debt may be resolved mathematically. But what about physiologically? If Eliza needs eight hours of sleep every day but gets six hours of sleep on weekdays and 13 hours on the weekends, her average sleep time is eight hours. But is this the same as getting eight hours every night, in a physical sense?

A meta-analysis of sleep study literature in 2017 sought to understand just that — if individuals who sleep “catch-up” have the same health outcomes as those who do not. The results were astonishing — short and inadequate sleep was heavily associated with negative health outcomes, most notably diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and obesity. The study suggests that catch-up sleep does not erase these risks and is not a replacement for a good night’s rest.

A study done in a Korean medical college focused on the lifestyle of different sleepers was conducted in 2020. It surveyed over 4,500 individuals to understand the health of people who participated in catch-up sleep and those who did not, and if they had comparable qualities of life. In this study, it was found that weekday sleep debt and catch-up did not have an effect on motility and self-care. Participants from both groups displayed similar data. However, there was a significant difference between the participants in both categories in the areas of mental health and social functioning. These findings suggest that catching up on sleep on the weekends leads to a significant disruption in daily routines, resulting in missed social interactions and limited opportunities for building relationships, which may also contribute to decreased mental well-being.

“Many of us might fall into the trap of waiting until the weekend to make up for lost sleep, but is it truly possible to “catch up” on sleep in this way?”

It may be tempting to stay up an extra hour or two, but it’s not worth the negative impact it can have on physical and mental health. Instead of relying on the weekends to catch up on sleep like Eliza, make sure to prioritize getting enough sleep every day of the week.

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons