Are You Sleeping More On Weekends? If So, Watch Out For Heart Disease

We have bad news for you - if you're someone who waits for the weekend to catch up on all your sleep, you may want to change this habit. Going to bed late and waking up late on weekends may lead to social jet lag which is associated with an increased risk of heart disease, poorer health and worse mood. According to researchers from the University of Arizona, social jet lag has emerged as an important circadian marker for health outcomes.

Each hour of social jet lag is associated with an 11-per cent increase in the likelihood of heart disease.

Circadian rhythms, which are also found in plants, animals, fungi and some bacteria, allow organisms to coordinate their biological activity with the day-night cycle. Although this rhythm is "built-in," it is adjusted to the local environment using zeitgebers ("time givers"), external clues like temperature, light levels and so on. By changing our sleeping patterns over a short period of time, we are causing our natural rhythm to become out of sync with the surrounding zeitgebers, which in effect is what jet lag is.

Social jet lag also leads to poorer health, worse mood, as well as increased sleepiness and fatigue.

Also Read: How to get good sleep

For the study, the team analysed survey responses from 984 adults between the age of 22 and 60 years.

Social jet lag was assessed using the sleep timing questionnaire and was calculated by subtracting weekday from weekend sleep midpoint.

Overall health was self-reported using a standardised scale, and survey questions also assessed sleep duration, insomnia, cardiovascular disease, fatigue, and sleepiness.

Social jet lag has also been linked to an increased risk of being overweight or obese.

According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommendations, adults should sleep seven or more hours per night on a regular basis to promote optimal health.

The findings have been published recently in the journal Sleep.

(With IANS inputs)