How often do we, not getting enough sleep during the working week, console ourselves with the fact that the weekend will come and we will compensate for all the hours we have not slept.
But, as researchers at the University of Colorado at Boulder have proven, this cannot be done. The fact of the matter is that getting long sleep on weekends doesn’t make up for your lack of sleep on the rest of the week.
Their study consisted of 2 groups of volunteers who were not allowed to sleep for more than five hours a night. The first group was not allowed to sleep for more than five hours during the entire experiment, and the second group was allowed to sleep on the weekends.
Observing the course of the experiment, it was found that participants in both groups began to eat more often at night, gained weight, and they showed a deterioration in metabolic processes.
In the first group, whose participants slept no more than five hours, insulin sensitivity decreased by 13%, in the second group (those who slept on the weekends) this decrease was from 9% to 27%.
Thus, scientists came to the conclusion that “sleep off the weekend” is nothing more than a myth that we console ourselves with, it is impossible to do this. So try to get enough sleep every day for 6-8 hours.
How much to sleep
Scientists answered the question of how much sleep you need: the average sleep period should be 7-8 hours. However, healthy sleep is continuous sleep. It is more beneficial to sleep 6 hours without waking than 8 hours with awakenings. Therefore, the WHO data on this issue expand the boundaries of healthy sleep: an adult needs to sleep from 6 to 8 hours a day for normal life.
We will remind, earlier we talked about what products make you sleepy and advised how to increase performance in case of lethargy and drowsiness.
Be healthy!