The weekend is often seen as a time to recover from sleep missed during a long week. A new study suggests that using the weekend to recover from sleep deprivation does not fix all of the damage caused. It helps, but only to a certain extent.
The study included 30 healthy adults, who were placed on a 13-day sleep schedule that included four nights of normal 8-hour sleep, followed by six nights of waking up 2 hours earlier, then three nights of sleeping for a gracious 10 hours. The six night simulated sleep loss, while the last three nights simulated “recovery” sleep. During the study, researchers monitored brain waves, administered tests to track alertness and recorded inflammatory and stress hormone levels by taking blood samples.
After five days of losing sleep, most of the men and women were drowsy and performed worse on attention tests. They also showed increased levels of interleukin-6 in their blood, which is an inflammation agent in the body.
But after two days of “recovery” sleep, interleukin-6 levels lowered and even performance on some of the tests that measure sleepiness improved. Yet, across the group, overall performance on the attention test did not improve.
Researchers are still trying to find the long term effects of a repeated sleep restriction/sleep recovery cycle in humans. The National Sleep Foundation warns us to be aware of “sleep debt,” the amount of sleep that we miss. Too much sleep debt has been linked to obesity, high blood pressure, negativity mood and behavior, decreased productivity, safety issues in the home, on the road and on the job.
It is critical for adults to aim for 7-9 hours of sleep every night in order to receive the benefits of sleep. It is ok to try to get some recovery sleep every once in a while but, aim for recovery sleep in the form of extended sleep or keep it short with a nap.
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