Can You Catch Up on Sleep at the Weekend? What Studies Show
Partly. Sleeping longer at the weekend helps you feel better, and one large study linked weekend lie-ins with lower mortality in short sleepers. But a carefully controlled laboratory study found that weekend recovery sleep did not undo the effects of short sleep during the week, and may even make the next week harder. The most reliable fix is getting enough sleep most nights.
Key facts
- In a 2019 lab study, people who slept 5 hours on weeknights and caught up at the weekend still had worse blood sugar control than people who slept normally.
- A Swedish study of 43,880 people found that under-65s who slept 5 hours or less on all days had higher mortality, but those who slept in at weekends did not.
- Sleeping in shifts your body clock later and can make Monday morning harder.
- It’s easier to pay back sleep debt with earlier bedtimes over several nights.
What is sleep debt?
Sleep debt is the difference between how much sleep you need and how much you get. If you need 8 hours and sleep 6 on five weeknights, you build up 10 hours of debt by Friday. Our sleep debt calculator works out your own total from the last 7 nights.
The lab study: weekend lie-ins didn’t fix it
In a study published in Current Biology in 2019, Christopher Depner and colleagues at the University of Colorado Boulder kept 36 healthy young adults in a sleep lab for about two weeks.
| Group | Sleep pattern |
|---|---|
| Control | 9 hours in bed every night |
| Restricted | 5 hours every night |
| Weekend recovery | 5 hours on weeknights, then sleep as long as they liked at the weekend, then back to 5 hours |
The weekend recovery group slept only about 1 extra hour on average at the weekend, nowhere near enough to repay their debt. Like the restricted group, they snacked more after dinner and gained weight, and their body’s sensitivity to insulin got worse. In some measures, the weekend recovery group did worse than the group that never caught up, possibly because the weekend lie-in disrupted their body clock.
The population study: lie-ins linked to lower mortality
A different kind of study, led by Torbjörn Åkerstedt and published in the Journal of Sleep Research in 2018, followed 43,880 people in Sweden for 13 years.
Among people under 65, those who slept 5 hours or less on every day of the week had a higher death rate than people who regularly slept 6 to 7 hours. But people who slept 5 hours or less on weekdays and caught up with longer sleep at weekends had no higher death rate. The pattern wasn’t seen in people over 65.
This study shows an association, not cause and effect, and it relied on people reporting their own sleep. But it suggests that catching up may be better than never catching up.
So, does catching up work?
Putting the two studies together:
- Extra sleep at the weekend is better than no extra sleep.
- It doesn’t fully reverse the effects of a short-sleep week, especially on metabolism.
- Very long lie-ins shift your body clock and can make it harder to get up on Monday.
A better way to pay back sleep debt
- Go to bed earlier instead of sleeping in. Add 30 to 60 minutes a night until the debt is paid. This keeps your wake-up time, and your body clock, steady.
- Limit weekend lie-ins to about 1 to 2 hours past your usual wake-up time.
- Nap smartly. A 10 to 20-minute nap in the early afternoon can help on a bad day. See our nap calculator.
- Plan for 7 or more hours most nights, using the sleep calculator to set a bedtime that fits your alarm.
Sources
- Depner CM et al. Ad libitum weekend recovery sleep fails to prevent metabolic dysregulation during a repeating pattern of insufficient sleep and weekend recovery sleep. Current Biology, 2019
- Åkerstedt T et al. Sleep duration and mortality: does weekend sleep matter? Journal of Sleep Research, 2018. Summary: CNN
- AASM Sleep Education: Healthy sleep habits
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to recover from sleep debt?
A few nights of extra sleep can repay a small debt. Recovering from weeks or months of short sleep can take longer, and some effects may not fully reverse.
Is it bad to sleep 10 hours at the weekend?
It’s not harmful in itself, but sleeping in by several hours shifts your body clock and can make it harder to sleep on Sunday night.
Can a nap pay back sleep debt?
A nap helps you feel more alert, but it only repays a small amount of sleep. Earlier bedtimes are more effective.
