Sleeping in has the same adverse health effects as jet lag, according to a sleep study.
- Jet lag was also associated with low mood and increased sleepiness and fatigue.
- In France, 45% of 25-45 year olds consider that they sleep less than they need.
After a tiring week, many people rely on the weekend to be able to sleep longer and catch up on their short nights.
But according to scientists from the University of Arizona in the United States, sleeping in on Saturdays and Sundays is a bad idea, as it could have adverse health effects. In order to reach this conclusion, they carried out a study published in the journal sleeping.
A “social jet lag”
For the purposes of the work, the researchers analyzed data from 984 adults, aged 22 to 60, collected as part of the “SHADES” cohort, which was funded by the National Institutes of Health. The latter was conducted to better understand the links between sleep and health, behavior and the environment, including poverty rates, crime statistics, noise and traffic.
According to the study, sleeping in does not provide restful sleep for people who sleep in. On the contrary, it would be responsible for a “social jet lag”. This is the discrepancy between typical weekday and weekend sleep schedules, the authors explained. According to the results, each hour of delay was associated with an 11% increase in the likelihood of developing heart disease.
The regularity of sleep
“It is particularly surprising that these effects are independent of sleep quantity and insomnia symptoms. These results indicate that sleep regularity, beyond just sleep duration, plays an important role in our health.”said Sierra B. Forbush, lead author of the research, in a statement.
