Leo Sher, M.D. 

A research work, “Association between weekend catch-up sleep and cardiovascular disease: Evidence from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys 2017-2018” has been published in Sleep Health online ahead of print (1). This study suggests that in those who average <6 hours of weekday sleep, weekend catch-up sleep could be beneficial in reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease.

Researchers from Nanjing Medical University in China analyzed data from the 2017-2018 cycle of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). NHANES is run by the National Center for Health Statistics, a part of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The cross-sectional analysis included 3400 U.S. adults 20 years old or older.

Participants with cardiovascular disease had shorter weekend catch-up sleep than those without cardiovascular disease. Participants with weekend catch-up sleep had a lower prevalence of cardiovascular disease than those with no significant change in weekend sleep duration. An adjusted multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that weekend catch-up sleep duration was significantly associated with the prevalence of angina, stroke, and coronary heart disease. Weekend catch-up sleep was associated with reduced cardiovascular disease prevalence when the weekday sleep duration was less than 6 hours. A stratified analysis of participants with less than 6 hours of sleep on weekdays showed that weekend catch-up sleep duration (more than 2 hours) was associated with reduced prevalence of cardiovascular disease.

Reference

1. Zhu H, Qin S, Wu M. Association between weekend catch-up sleep and cardiovascular disease: Evidence from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys 2017-2018. Sleep Health. 2023 Nov 23:S2352-7218(23)00226-7. doi: 10.1016/j.sleh.2023.09.006. Epub ahead of print.