Why a weekend lie in doesn’t help to improve performance

According to a US study, spending longer in bed at the weekend will not make up for lost hours of shut eye during the week when it comes to cognitive performance.

Many individuals believe that after a long week at work with only a few hours of sleep each night, a weekend lie in will be the cure to all of their problems.

However, scientists from Penn State College of Medicine in Pennysylvania have revealed that a weekend lie in does not make up for lost hours of sleep during the week.

Professor of psychiatry and sleep expert Alexandros Vgontza was a researcher on the study in which he monitored a group of young men and women who spent 13 consecutive nights at his sleep lab.

The participants slept for eight hours each night for the first four nights, after which their sleep was restricted to six hours per night for six nights. Participants were then aloud three ‘recovery’ nights, during which they slept for ten hours per night.

Interestingly the researchers found that though recovery sleep can help to improve tiredness, it doesn’t improve performance. Whilst a couple of hours extra sleep at the weekend can help individuals to feel more clear-headed, they are still clumsy and slow to react.

‘The usual practice of extending sleep during the weekend after a busy work week associated with mild sleep loss is not adequate in reversing the cumulative effects on cognitive function resulting from this mild sleep deprivation.” Said Dr Vgontzas.

View the original Daily Mail article.