Unfortunately, dedicating your weekends to partying and sleeping in isn’t actually helping you de-stress and get ready for Mondays.
According to the Sleep Health Foundation, an Australian organization that advocates healthy sleep, our sleep patterns are under the control of roughly 24-hour internal biological clocks called circadian rhythms. Besides sleep, these daily rhythms also control many of the internal systems and biological processes inside our bodies, including digestion, wakefulness, the production and release of hormones, etc. Almost every living thing on Earth is governed by the same or similar rhythms.
And when these rhythms are disrupted, you can expect the processes they control to be disrupted as well. That’s why we feel terrible when we don’t get enough sleep throughout the night. Similarly, it’s also why we feel terrible when we get too much sleep – which is exactly what happens to some of us during the weekends.
It’s All About Regulation
Due to the stressful nature of our lives, studies, and/or careers, some of us tend to dedicate their free time to getting as much sleep as possible. While this initially sounds like a good idea, several medical experts have an opposing view.
According to sleep medicine specialist Dr. Gregory Carter (of the University of Texas Southwestern), the idea that you can ‘catch-up’ on missed sleep during the weekend is a myth. This goes back to the fact that our circadian rhythms or body clocks are about 24-hours long, which is what results in the 7 to 9-hour sleep cycle that healthy adult sleepers regularly practice.
Getting significantly more sleep than necessary can throw off your body clock, affecting not just sleep, but also the several other biological processes that it’s responsible for. So the next time you just feel like lying-in throughout the entire weekend, don’t. No matter how physically or mentally tired you are, you need to stick to getting just enough sleep. It’s always a good idea to stick to average expert-recommended amounts of sleep based on circadian rhythm analysis.
A lot of times, excessive partying and drinking are what causes all-weekend lie-ins in bed. For many of us, this is just an unavoidable part of our weekly social interaction. If you can’t avoid partying all Friday or Saturday, just remember to use every bit of willpower you have to not sleep in the whole day tomorrow. It’s gonna make your Mondays much more bearable.
Wanna know more about circadian rhythms? Ask the Sleep Health Foundation. For more information on circadian rhythm development in adolescents and teens, check this out.
REFERENCES:
http://www.sleephealthfoundation.org.au/fact-sheets-a-z/203-body-clock.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/9536816/Feel-tired-on-Mondays-Dont-lie-in-at-weekends.html
https://sleepfoundation.org/media-center/press-release/national-sleep-foundation-recommends-new-sleep-times
https://www.onebed.com.au/start-school-later-in-the-day-says-british-sleep-experts/