Catch-up sleep on weekends might benefit heart

Like to sleep in on the weekends?

You're probably doing your heart a world of good, a new study shows.

Weekend "catch-up" sleep can lower a person's risk of heart disease by up to 20%, according to findings to be presented Thursday at the European Society of Cardiology's annual meeting in London.

"Sufficient compensatory sleep is linked to a lower risk of heart disease," said researcher Yanjun Song, a cardiology expert with the Fuwai Hospital in Beijing. "The association becomes even more pronounced among individuals who regularly experience inadequate sleep on weekdays."

For the study, researchers analyzed data from nearly 91,000 participants in the long-range UK Biobank research project. As part of the project, the participants wore sleep monitors and had their heart health tracked.

About 22% of the participants were sleep-deprived, getting less than seven hours of sleep per night.

Sleep tracking showed which of the participants were sleeping in on the weekends, to make up for their lack of sleep during the week.

After an average 14 years of follow-up, those participants who got the most catch-up sleep on the weekends were 19% less likely to develop heart disease than those who got the least, results show.

That held especially true among those with daily sleep deprivation, with those getting the most catch-up sleep experiencing a 20% lower risk of heart disease, researchers said.

Because these findings were presented at a medical meeting, they should be considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

More information

The American Heart Association has more about sleeping in on the weekends.

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