Can you stay in bed until 11 a.m. on Saturday morning without any effort? Then don’t feel guilty. Sleeping in is in some cases very good for your mental health. But be careful, don’t lie too long.
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Door Metronieuws.nl
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Of course you always have early risers who are already in the gym on their Saturday morning off or who have the house completely in order. But it turns out that a little extra sleep on the weekend is good for your mental health.
It reduces the risk of depression. This is according to research from South Korea’s Yonsei University. But there are a few conditions attached to it. It is important that you do not get more than two hours of extra sleep. Too much extra sleep actually increases the risk.
South Korean doctors examined 5,500 people who regularly missed some sleep during a work week. They found that the participants who got an extra two hours of sleep on the weekend were 48 percent less likely to suffer from depression. One extra hour of sleep reduced this risk by a third.
But among the participants who slept longer than the desired two hours on a weekend day, the risk of depression increased by 16 percent. Earlier Swedish research from 2018 had similar results. The researchers concluded from this that extra sleep on weekends improves your health.
Not essential
But the healthiest situation is when you don’t really need the extra hours of sleep on the weekend. If you increase the duration and quality of your sleep during the week, the sleep-in days are not essential. By getting enough sleep every night, you don’t have to make up for it on the weekend. According to the researchers, this has a positive effect on both your mental and physical well-being. It is recommended to get an average of between seven and nine hours of sleep each night. Sometimes it’s just a small adjustment in your sleep routine, so you don’t have to stay in bed on Saturday.
