14 DAY TRIAL // Many people who have hectic work schedules lose a lot of sleep over the week, and go to bed later than recommended. They also get up very early, which means that they sleep less than the 6 to 8 hours specialists say the body needs in order to regenerate. But most of these people believe that they can recover this so-called “sleep debt” during the weekend, if they sleep late on Saturday or Sunday. A new investigation shows that reality couldn't be further from the truth in this case, e! Science News reports.
The research shows that indeed sleeping for 10 hours or more on one weekend night has some beneficial health effects. However, these effects are not, by far, sufficient to compensate for the chronic sleep restriction people have experienced throughout the week. In other words, it takes a lot more than a single night to recover the sleep debt. The conclusion appears in the August 1 issue of the esteemed medical journal Sleep. The investigation was conducted by scientists at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, who were led by expert David F. Dinges, PhD.
“Recovery of alertness dimensions was remarkably dependent on the duration of the recovery time in bed. However, the sleep restriction was severe enough that recovery of alertness was not complete following a single night of extended sleep, indicating a residual sleep debt remained. Lifestyles that involve chronic sleep restriction during the workweek and during days off work may result in continuing buildup of sleep pressure and in an increased likelihood of loss of alertness and increased errors,” says Dinges, who was the principal investigator on the new work. He is the chief of the UP School of Medicine Division of Sleep and Chronobiology, and also the director of the Unit for Experimental Psychiatry at the university.
“The additional hour or two of sleep in the morning after a period of chronic partial sleep loss has genuine benefits for continued recovery of behavioral alertness. The bottom line is that adequate recovery sleep duration is important for coping with the effects of chronic sleep restriction on the brain,” the expert adds. The new investigation “highlights the importance of avoiding all-night sleep deprivation following a period of restricted sleep,” Dinges concludes.