Sleeping Longer on Weekends May Be Good for You: “You Shouldn’t Feel Lazy”

For years, experts warned that sleeping late on weekends could disrupt the body’s internal clock. A new study offers a more reassuring message: modestly extending sleep after a difficult week may help protect against high blood pressure.

The analysis found that people who slept longer on weekends had a 6% lower chance of hypertension. The researchers identified an average increase of 1 hour and 27 minutes as the amount associated with the greatest benefit, linked to a 9% lower risk of high blood pressure.

The study followed 40,000 adults in South Korea for seven years. Weekend recovery sleep was measured by comparing sleep duration on weekends with sleep during working days. The benefit appeared slightly greater among people considered physically inactive, who had a 6.9% lower likelihood of hypertension when they slept longer at weekends.

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Insufficient sleep places extra stress on the body. It keeps the heart and blood vessels working harder and can increase blood pressure. Additional sleep during the weekend can give the body a chance to recover and reduce some of that stress.

Dr Navon Lee of Korea University in Seoul said insufficient sleep places extra stress on the body, forcing the heart and blood vessels to work harder and potentially raising blood pressure. “Additional sleep during the weekend can give the body a chance to recover and reduce some of that stress,” he said.

Lee added that people should not feel lazy or guilty about sleeping a little longer on weekends if they failed to get enough rest during the week. The research was presented in Munich at the annual congress of the European Society of Cardiology. More than 1.3 billion people worldwide have hypertension, which increases the risk of heart attack, stroke, kidney disease and early death. The study did not displace advice on exercise, healthy weight and diet, while experts continued to recommend regular bedtimes and wake-up times.

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People should not feel lazy or guilty about sleeping a little longer on weekends.