A weekend lie-in may help lower blood pressure (Image: Getty)
Sleeping in at the weekend could help protect against high blood pressure, according to new research. Scientists say people should not feel guilty about staying in bed a little longer, as the extra rest may be the body’s way of recovering from sleep lost during the working week.
The findings come from a seven-year study involving 41,000 adults, which found that those who had longer weekend lie-ins were less likely to have high blood pressure. Researchers also identified a “sweet spot” for catch-up sleep: an extra one hour and 27 minutes in bed was linked to the greatest benefit. People who gained this amount of additional sleep were 9% less likely to have hypertension.
Dr Nawon Lee, of Korea University in Seoul and an author of the study, said: “Not getting enough sleep puts extra stress on the body. It keeps the heart and blood vessels working harder and can increase blood pressure.
“Getting some extra sleep on the weekend may give the body a chance to recover and reduce some of that stress. People should not feel lazy or guilty for sleeping a little longer on the weekend. If they have not been able to get enough sleep during the week, some extra sleep on the weekend may simply be the body’s way of recovering from that sleep loss.”
An extra 90 minutes in bed at the weekend could support healthier blood pressure (Image: Getty)
The average British adult sleeps for between 6 and 6.4 hours a night, falling short of the recommended seven to nine hours. Too little sleep is known to stop blood pressure from dipping overnight as it normally should, which can raise the risk of developing high blood pressure over time.
High blood pressure, officially called hypertension, is often described by doctors as the “silent killer” because it frequently has no obvious symptoms while increasing the risk of heart attacks and strokes. Around one in three adults in the UK — about 13 million people — are thought to have hypertension, although many do not know it.
Previous research had stressed the importance of having a regular bedtime and wake-up time and many experts dismissed the idea that you should catch up on missed sleep at the weekend.
However, the new research presented at the European Society of Cardiology showed that getting some catch-up sleep could boost heart health – but getting too much could still be harmful. People getting over four hours extra sleep at the weekend were at greater risk of hypertension.
Dr Lee added: “I think moderate weekend catch-up sleep may have a protective effect because, in people who are sleep-deprived during the week, the benefit of compensating for insufficient sleep may outweigh the potential harm from having an irregular sleep schedule.
“However when weekend catch-up sleep becomes excessive, the degree of sleep irregularity and circadian disruption may increase, which could offset that benefit.”
She added: “Keeping a regular sleep schedule is still important, but getting a moderate amount of catch-up sleep may be beneficial rather than something to feel bad about.”
Study participants who had any duration of catch-up sleep at the weekend were 6% less likely to have high blood pressure on average.
A greater benefit of weekend catch up sleep was seen in people who didn’t get enough exercise and were considered to be physically inactive. They were 6.9% less likely to have hypertension if they had weekend lie-ins.
Participants were deemed inactive if they did not get the World Health Organization’s weekly recommended 150 minutes of moderate exercise, or 75 minutes vigorous exercise, or a combination of both.
