周末“补觉”是一个谎言

Carolyn Y.Johnson

The negative health effects of lacking sleep during the week can't be reversed (逆转)by weekend sleep,according to a study.

Some people often force themselves out of bed every weekday after too few hours of shut⁃eye,hoping that shutting off the alarm on Saturday and Sunday will repay the weekly sleep debt and avoid any ill effects.The research,published inCurrent Biology,destroys those hopes.Despite complete freedom to sleep in and nap during a weekend recovery pe⁃riod,participants in a sleep laboratory who were limited to five hours of sleep on weekdays gained nearly three pounds over two weeks and increased their risk of suffering from diabe⁃tes over the long term.While weekend recovery sleep had some benefits after a single week of not enough sleep,those gains were wiped out when people went right back into their same sleep⁃deprived schedule the next Monday.

“If there are benefits of catch⁃up sleep,they're gone when you go back to your rou⁃tine.They're very short⁃lived,”said Kenneth Wright,director of the sleep and chronobiol⁃ogy(生物钟学)laboratory at the University of Colorado Boulder.“These health effects are long⁃term.It's kind of like smoking once was—people would smoke and wouldn't see an immediate effect on their health,but people will realize that smoking is not a healthy life⁃style choice.I think sleep is in the early phase of where smoking used to be.”

As for understanding the long⁃term impacts of short sleep on the weekdays and long sleep on the weekend,it will be important to do further study.

Reading Check

What does Kenneth Wright think of the benefits of catch⁃up sleep?