Most of us love a good weekend sleep in – and now, you don’t have to feel guilty about it.
Today.com reports that scientists have finally confirmed that catching up on your sleep on the weekend has many health benefits.
A brand new study has found that just two days of “make-up sleep” (eg, the weekend) is enough to fix the metabolic damage sleep deprivation causes.
University of Colorado assistant research professor Josiane Broussard, who worked on the study, said your body would thank you after a good sleep in.
"You are going to improve your insulin sensitivity and giving yourself permission to sleep in … prevents your future diabetes risk," he said.
Sounds good enough to us...
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Broussard and fellow researcher Dr Esra Tasali discovered the results by conducting two sleep experiments with 19 healthy young men.
In the first, the men slept for for 8.5 hours for four days. In the second, they slept for 4.5 hours for four days, but were given two "recovery days".
They then tested their blood sugar, and found that when the participants were sleep deprived, their insulin sensitivity dropped by 23 percent (which boosted their diabetes risk by 16 percent). After their recovery days, their levels went back to normal.
While it was a small and short-term study, the results are fascinating.
And we're not going to argue with scientists who tell us to get more shut eye...
Do you sleep in on the weekends?
