Sleeping an extra one or two hours on the weekend may help lower the risk of developing high blood pressure, according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) in Munich, Germany.
For years, scientists have recommended maintaining a consistent sleep schedule, including on weekends. However, this new research flips that notion, adding evidence that weekend catch-up sleep could actually benefit heart health.
What the New Study Shows
The study drew on data from 40,727 adults in South Korea, tracked over seven years (2016–2023) through the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Researchers compared participants' sleep duration on weekends versus weekdays.
Results showed that catching up on sleep over the weekend after a long work week reduced the rate of high blood pressure. However, the benefit only appeared when the extra sleep was moderate—around one to two hours—with the sweet spot at about 1 hour and 37 minutes.
Specifically, weekend catch-up sleep cut the risk of high blood pressure by 6%. Among less physically active individuals, the reduction was 6.9%. Even adding just 1 hour and 37 minutes each weekend slashed the risk by as much as 9%.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), as of 2024, about 1.4 billion adults aged 30–79 globally have high blood pressure, representing 33% of that age group. High blood pressure is also a leading cause of premature death worldwide.
Study author Nawon Lee from Korea University in Seoul noted that sleep deprivation adds stress to the body, forcing the heart and blood vessels to work harder, which raises blood pressure. She encouraged people not to feel lazy or guilty about sleeping a bit longer on weekends if they haven't had enough sleep during the week, saying that catch-up sleep may be the body's way of recovering from sleep debt.
However, Lee warned that oversleeping could disrupt sleep patterns and circadian rhythms, potentially canceling out the benefit.
Related Research
At the ESC 2024 congress in London, researchers presented a study of more than 90,000 people. It found that those who got the most catch-up sleep on weekends had about a 20% lower risk of heart disease compared with those who got the least.
A large body of modern medical research also supports a strong link between adequate sleep and better cardiovascular health.
Scientific Views on Sleep
For decades, medical advice has held that short sleep harms heart health, and that seven to nine hours per night is optimal for adults. Regularly sleeping more than that may signal an underlying health issue.
However, some scientists previously argued that weekend catch-up sleep could be harmful because it disrupts the body's natural circadian rhythm—the internal clock regulating sleep, hormones, and body temperature over roughly a 24-hour cycle.
A 2019 study of 36 adults split participants into three groups: one slept 5 hours per night for 9 consecutive nights (including weekends), another had 5 hours on weekdays but could sleep freely on the weekend, and a third got 9 hours every night.
Results showed that both sleep-deprived groups snacked more in the evening and had poorer metabolic health. The weekend catch-up group saw some improvement during the extra sleep, but once they returned to a short sleep schedule, the benefits vanished, and their metabolic health remained worse than the group that slept adequately every day.
