Sleeping More On Weekends Could Help You Live Longer, Study Says
shivani k 
Image: Shutterstock
Do you belong to the brigade of people who try to catch up on their sleep over the weekends? Well, we are a family then. And if you’ve always been feeling guilty about oversleeping during the weekends, we have some good news for you — you can officially turn off your alarm and get some extra sleep on your weekends, making up for all the loss of sleep you’ve been facing the entire week. And we aren’t just saying this to make you feel good about your weekend, even a study says so!
As much as we know that a minimum of eight hours of sleep every day is very important for us to maintain a healthy life and a healthy body, most of us fail to achieve it (1). The reasons for this failure could be many — your 9 to 5 job, taking care of your children and making sure they’re on time for their school, the various social activities you are a part of, the busy work schedules, the modern life distractions or simply running your own little kingdom (your household) in the right manner.
And honestly, haven’t we all associated the term “enough sleep” with “a longer life”? Now, certain studies and research have made our lives easier by coming up with an impeccable fact: We could oversleep during the weekends and compensate for the loss of sleep we had over the entire week that went by in a jiffy! So, now we can definitely afford to live longer, right?
How Exactly Does The Study Prove This?
While conducting this study, almost 44,000 people were taken into consideration. Their sleep habits were studied and their health conditions were regularly monitored. And later on, a follow up was done after 13 years. And they came to the following conclusions, which were published in the Journal of Sleep Research (2):
- One of their findings was that people who slept for five hours or less, including the weekends, had a much higher rate of mortality when compared to those who slept religiously for seven hours every single night.
- Another surprising finding was that the individuals who overslept also had a good mortality rate.
- A thorough examination revealed that when the health conditions and mortality rate of people who slept less during the week but overslept during the weekend was compared with those who slept eight hours every single day, their health conditions and mortality rate was almost same. However, one small catch exists here. This study and its facts can be considered for people below the age of 65.
How Important Is Sleep?
Sleep is a biological requirement for every living species on earth. And if we don’t want to harm our health, we need to sleep and provide rest to our body. If breathing is responsible for us to be alive, then sleep is responsible for us to be healthy. It might be surprising for you to know that a lot of factors are taken into account to determine whether or not the body needs sleep. Our body is gifted with an internal clock that lets us know when our body needs to shut down and sleep, and when it is ready to do some productive work. This internal clock is better known by us as the circadian rhythm (3). And there are no brownie points for guessing that it’s the brain that controls this biological clock of ours. Also, it’s the light that our body is exposed to which helps the brain to control this clock. And the amount of sleep required depends entirely on the age as well. Young children sleep early and sleep more when compared to the average teens and adults.
Sleep is very important because it is during sleep that our body supports the healthy functioning of our brain and other vital organs. In the cases of children, it is a good sleep that boosts proper growth and development in a child. And among adults, sleep deprivation can affect not just the mental health, but can also lead to severe ailments as well (4).
Let’s Understand A Little More About Our Circadian Rhythm
The circadian rhythm, our internal clock basically takes cues from the environment to determine the sleep timings (light, darkness, temperature, etc.). Our body apparently releases chemicals throughout the day that the clock controls. Surprising, right?
Well, when it is dark our body releases a hormone called melatonin. This melatonin signals our brain that it’s time to prepare our body to sleep (5). Therefore, eventually, you begin to feel drowsy. The level of this hormone keeps building up and when it reaches the peak, that’s the time we just hit the bed and turn into a sleeping beauty.
And as the sun rises, a hormone called cortisol is released by our body. This prepares our body to wake up (6). And you thought you could control your sleep!
Maintaining a healthy lifestyle will easily help you in following a healthy sleep routine as well. Observe carefully what are the obstructions you are facing, change them and lead a disciplined lifestyle. Are your sleeping habits under your control? Do let us know in the comments below.
Community Experiences
Join the conversation and become a part of our vibrant community! Share your stories, experiences, and insights to connect with like-minded individuals.
