New research about sleep is not going to make a lot of people happy.

You already know that most of us (thankfully, not me) need about 7 hours of zzz’s a night to stay healthy.  Those of us who don’t get the right amount of sleep are often at risk for weight gain.  Or, worse yet, developing diabetes.

And, since so many folks don’t get that amount of sleep, they look forward to the weekend when they can sleep in and ‘catch up’ on those lost sleep moments.

Oh, wait!   That doesn’t work.

Dr. Kenneth Wright (who’s been studying sleep and circadian rhythms for a while at the University of Colorado), along with Drs. Christopher M. Depner, Edward L. Melanson, Robert H. Eckel, Janet K. Snell-Bergeon, Leigh Perreault, Bryan C. Bergman, Janine A. Higgins, Molly K. Guerin, Ellen R. Stothard, and  Sarah J. Morton published their newest data in Current Biology.  The article, Ad libitum Weekend Recovery Sleep Fails to Prevent Metabolic Dysregulation during a Repeating Pattern of Insufficient Sleep and Weekend Recovery Sleep, should dispel the myth about ‘sleep banks’ rather quickly.

Subjects were limited to five hours of sleep during the week- and over two weeks, these folks gained THREE pounds!!   Moreover, they manifested metabolic disruption (which is the sort of thing that lets us develop diabetes with extended periods of such behavior).

The young adults were assigned to one of three groups (randomly).  The control group (8 folks) were able to sleep up to 9 hours daily.  The second group (14 folks), SR, were limited to 5 hours of sleep daily and no means to extend their sleep periods over the weekend.  The final group (14), WR, were also limited to 5 hours of sleep during the week, with 2 days of weekend recovery (followed by restricted sleep). These last two groups manifested the weight gain (they also ate more after dinner)- plus the WR group managed to obtain an additional 70 minutes of sleep over the weekend.  Both SR and WR groups manifested diminished insulin sensitivity.

This data showed that while ‘catch-up’ sleep could help temporarily, the benefit evaporated the second someone went back to their sleep deprived cycles.

Moreover, as you can see (and, of this I am certainly guilty), when we get fewer hours of sleep, we eat WAY too much after dinner.  In my case, it may be healthy snacks- but there is way too much of a good thing.  (I admit it- I make it worse.  Until recently, dinner- and the after-dinner snack- were the only two meals of which I partook.  About a year ago, I finally added brunch back into my routine.)

Which means that we need to skip those TV shows that intrigue us late at night.  As well as those Facebook, twitter, and eMails that we are positive we need before we go to sleep.

z-z-z-z-z-z.

Oops.  Sorry.  I stumbled into a nap. ☺

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