PROVE IT
Catching up on sleep is hard to do
November 7, 2009
THE CLAIM
A person can pay off a sleep debt by sleeping late on weekends.
THE FACTS
Chronic sleep deprivation is a given for most North Americans. But the remedy is not as simple as sleeping late on a Saturday. Studies show it can take a week or more for the cognitive and physiological consequences of poor sleep to wear off – even after increasing sleep.
In 2008, for example, scientists at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm found that when subjects slept four hours a night over five days and then "recovered" with eight hours a night over the following week, they still showed slight residual cognitive impairments a week later, even though they reported no sleepiness.
But a Walter Reed Army Institute of Research study found people recovered much more quickly from a week of poor sleep when it was preceded by a "banking" week that included nights with 10 hours of shuteye. So, if you foresee a week of little sleep, load up on sleep beforehand.
THE BOTTOM LINE
It takes more than a night of extra sleep to pay off a sleep debt.
The New York Times
Toronto Star
Featured Sponsored Listings