Catch up on sleep on the weekend - a matter of life and death. Scientists tell us why

Lack of sleep during the week increases the risk to go to the light ahead of time. But now you know what to do.

For those who for several days sleeping five hours or less, increases the risk of premature death. However, the negative effect can be prevented if some sleep on the weekends, writes The Guardian.

The duration of sleep is important for longevity.

Torbjörn Akerstedt, a sleep from Stockholm University

The researchers used dataSleep duration and mortality - Does weekend sleep matter? more than 43 thousand participants in medical surveys carried out in Sweden in 1997. Over the next 13 years, scientists have observed the fate of these people, tracking mortality.

Prior to this, scientists have evaluated the association of sleep and mortality, but considered only the duration of sleep during the week. Akerstedt decided to analyze the impact of sleep on weekends. The researchers took into account other factors: gender, body mass index, smoking, physical activity level, work night shifts. It turned out that people under age 65 who consistently slept five hours or less, the risk of death increases by 52%. However, it does not increase in those who do not sleep for a week, but slept at the weekend.

"It is assumed that sleep on the weekend helps to fill the lack of sleep," - says Akerstedt. However, the study does not give one hundred percent confirmation of this hypothesis.

Moreover, sleep too long is not very useful. In subjects who slept the whole week for eight hours or more, marked by an increased risk of death compared with those who slept six or seven hours a day.

Lack of sleep has a negative impact on the body, but regular long sleep can indicate hidden health problems.

"This is consistent with what we know about sleep, - says neuroscientist Stuart Pearson (Stuart Peirson) from Oxford University. - Sleep is regulated by an internal clock of the body, but also it affects homeostasis process. That is, the longer you are awake, the more sleep you need then. "

It is interesting that in people over 65 years the connection between sleep and mortality was found. According to Akerstedta, it is explained by the fact that older people sleep as much as they need.

Although the need for sleep is different for each person, lack of sleep, in any case, you need to fill. If you do not give the body a rest, life expectancy will be reduced.