Weekend lie-ins could save your life: Extra sleep on Saturdays or Sundays cuts risk of heart disease, say researchers
29 August 2024, 19:54
Weekend lie-ins could save your life, researchers have urged, with the additional sleep cutting the risk of heart disease significantly.
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Lie-ins on Saturday and Sunday could cut heart attacks and strokes by up to a fifth, according to the study of 90,000 British adults.
Participants were tracked over a 14-year period and were provided with devices monitoring their sleeping habits as well as self-reporting periods of sleep deprivation to the study.
This was compared against hospital records and death registry information.
The study found that those who had the most “compensatory sleep” over the weekends had a 20 per cent lower risk of heart disease, compared with those who had the least.
Similarly, those who classed themselves as "sleep-deprived" had the most pronounced trends.
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The study, which was conducted by a group of Chinese scientists in conjunction with the UK Biobank project, will now present the findings to the European Society of Cardiology Congress in London.
The 90,903 people examined are part of the UK Biobank project, which holds medical and lifestyle records of half a million individuals.
Study author Yanjun Song, of the National Centre for Cardiovascular Disease, Fuwai Hospital, in Beijing, China, said: “Sufficient compensatory sleep is linked to a lower risk of heart disease.
“The association becomes even more pronounced among individuals who regularly experience inadequate sleep on weekdays.”
Over the follow-up period of 14 years, the team found people with the most extra sleep - ranging from 1.28 to 16.06 hours of additional sleep during weekends - were 19 per cent less likely to develop heart disease than those with the least amount of compensatory sleep - ranging from losing 16.05 hours to losing 0.26 hours over the weekend.
In a sub-group of people with daily sleep deprivation, those with the most compensatory sleep had a 20 per cent lower risk of developing heart disease than those with the least, the researchers said.
Study co-author Zechen Liu, also of the National Centre for Cardiovascular Disease, said: “Our results show that for the significant proportion of the population in modern society that suffers from sleep deprivation, those who have the most ‘catch-up’ sleep at weekends have significantly lower rates of heart disease than those with the least.”
Commenting on the study, Professor James Leiper, associate medical director at the British Heart Foundation, who was not involved, said: “Lots of us don’t get enough sleep due to work or family commitments, and while a weekend lie-in is no replacement for a regular good night’s rest, this large study suggests that it might help reduce risk of heart disease.
“We know that lack of sleep can affect our overall wellbeing, and this research is an important reminder of how important it is to try to get at least seven hours sleep every night.
“We look forward to future studies to better understand how sleep patterns can impact the heart and how we can adapt modern lifestyles to help improve our health.”
