On days off, would you sleep in? A study from Nanjing Medical University suggests that for those who don't get enough sleep during workdays, catching up on sleep over the weekend can be beneficial and may help reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. Researchers found that compared to individuals whose sleep duration does not change between weekdays and weekends, those who get over an hour more sleep on weekends have an overall 63% lower risk of developing cardiovascular diseases, particularly related to angina, stroke, and coronary heart disease. Further analysis revealed that people who sleep more than two hours extra on weekends and less than six hours on workdays had a 70% lower risk of cardiovascular disease. However, for those who already sleep more than eight hours on workdays and still catch up on sleep by more than two hours over the weekend, the risk of cardiovascular disease actually increases.

In addition, Sleep Medicine has reported that sleeping in on weekends can significantly reduce the risk of depression. Taking the average adult who needs eight hours of sleep per night as the standard, sleeping two hours more on weekends may reduce the risk of depression by 48%. However, the study cautioned that the longer the sleep, the lower the risk of depression. For example, increased the risk of depression is discovered among people who catch up on sleep for far more than two hours.