Catching up on sleep at weekends could cut heart disease risk by a fifth – study | Heart Disease

People who “catch up” on missed sleep over the weekend may have up to a 20 percent lower risk of heart disease than those who don’t, a study suggests.

The findings, presented at a meeting of the European Society of Cardiology, looked at data from 90,903 adults taking part in the UK Biobank project, a database that contains the medical and lifestyle records of 500,000 people in the UK.

Of these, 19,816 met the criteria for sleep deprivation, and over a 14-year follow-up period, the researchers found that people who slept the most on weekends were 19 percent less likely to develop heart disease than those who slept the least on weekends.

Those who slept more on weekends lost between 1.28 and 16.06 hours of additional sleep, and those who slept the least lost between 16.05 and 0.26 hours of sleep.

The study also looked at a subgroup of people with daily sleep deprivation and found that those who got the most compensatory sleep on weekends had a 20% lower risk of developing heart disease than those who got the least.

Professor Yanjun Song, author of the study and member of the China National Center for Cardiovascular Diseases in Beijing, said: “Adequate compensatory sleep is associated with a lower risk of heart disease. This association is even more pronounced in people who regularly suffer from sleep deprivation on weekdays.”

Zechen Liu, co-author of the study, said: “Our results show that for the significant proportion of people in modern society who suffer from sleep deprivation, those who get the most catch-up sleep on weekends have significantly lower rates of heart disease than those who get the least.”

Professor James Leiper, associate medical director at the British Heart Foundation, who was not involved in the study, said: “Many of us do not get enough sleep due to work or family commitments, and while a lie-in at the weekend is no substitute for a regular good night’s rest, this large-scale study suggests it could help reduce the risk of heart disease.

“We know that lack of sleep can affect our overall well-being, and this study reminds us how important it is to get at least seven hours of sleep each night. We look forward to future studies to better understand how sleep habits can impact the heart and how we can adapt our modern lifestyles to improve our health.”