How does changing your sleep patterns affect your health in the weekend?

This week in Boston, a conference on sleep problems was held, which showed evidence that late sleep on weekends and a change in the routine of sleep badly affects your health.

Changing sleep patterns and health

Researchers believe that changing your sleep patterns (which involves falling asleep and awakening at the same time during the week) adversely affects mood, energy level and health.

But that is not all. Every hour that you do not sleep at the weekend, increases the chances of developing heart disease by 11 percent. "The results indicate that not only the duration of sleep, but also its regularity, is important for our health," said lead author of the study, Sierra Forbush of the University of Arizona.

This means that regular sleep can become effective, relatively simple and inexpensive prophylaxis of diseases of the cardiovascular system, as well as many other health problems.

Features of the study

Forbush and his colleagues examined the state of health of 984 people aged 22 to 60 who participated in a sleep survey conducted at the University of Pennsylvania. Participants answered questions about what kind of sleep schedule they follow and whether it changes on weekends.

Then the researchers calculated the weekly biorhythmic disturbance of participants, comparing the average indicators of weekdays and days off. Participants also answered questions about their overall sleep duration, insomnia, cardiovascular disease, fatigue and drowsiness.

results

The results showed that people who go to bed later in the weekend only for one hour, increase their risk of developing heart problems by 11 percent. They also had a 22 percent greater chance of assessing their overall health as good, not excellent, and 28 percent more likely to rate it as bad. However, every extra hour of deviation from the schedule leads to an increase in these risks.

Surprisingly, these effects did not depend on the total duration of sleep and any symptoms of sleep problems, such as insomnia. According to the recommendations of the National Sleep Foundation, adults should sleep 7-9 hours a day to get optimal health benefits.

Preventive strategy

Doctors often advise people to pay more attention to diet and exercise if they want to reduce health risks, in particular to take care of their heart, but Forbush states that proper sleep is an additional preventive strategy. And it's not just about getting enough sleep. Your dream can be called healthy only if it is regular: ideally you should go to bed and wake up at the same time every day of the week.

The scientists presented their preliminary findings (theses of which are published in the magazine Sleep) at the annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Society, which is a joint venture of the American Academy of Sleep and Sleep Research Society.