Does being a sack hound on the weekend make you lazy – or extend your life?

According to the results of a 13-year study of sleep habits published by the Journal of Sleep Research, it’s the latter. The study reported the following:

• For people 65 and under, weekend sleep can make up for sleep deficits accrued during the week.
• People who slept fewer than 5 hours per night during the week faced a 52% higher mortality rate. However, those who gained 2 hours’ sleep per night on weekends lived just as long as those who consistently slept 7 hours per night.

Afraid to turn off the alarm clock on the weekend?

If you create a sleep deficit for yourself during the week, you no longer have to feel guilty about sleeping in Saturday and Sunday. First, the results of the study above (which followed 43,000 people) prove that catching up on your Zzz’s each weekend can add years to your life. Second, sleep deprivation is an illegal method of torture outlawed by the Geneva Convention (it’s literally a form of torture!). And finally, study after study confirms what most people already know about sleep loss:

• It diminishes your ability to focus and block out distractions.
• It reduces your ability to solve problems and make effective decisions.
• It slows your reaction time.
• Besides that, being sleep deprived just makes you feel lousy.

Get more sleep on the weekends!

If changing your sleep habits doesn’t come naturally to you, read this earlier post for tips on how to make a new habit stick and consider these ideas:

• Figure out how much sleep you really need to feel good and perform at your best. Then track your hours each week to determine if you’re behind.
• Make sleep a priority. Stop scheduling early morning activities on the weekend. And if you can’t, get creative to share “early rising” duties with your significant other, friends or family members.
• Watch what you eat and drink. If you associate Friday and Saturday nights with rich food and alcohol, change your routine for a few weekends and see if you sleep longer and/or more soundly.
• Unplug. The blue light emitted by screens of all types can make you restless. Turn off your technology an hour before bed to help you fall asleep faster.

Then, contact Exact Staff. With a national presence and a full complement of staffing and placement solutions, we can help you better you plan your hiring and staffing needs, offload non-core business activities, and assume time-consuming hiring activities. We’ll help you lighten your load – and sleep a little better.