I’m sure that most of us would look at the heading and heave a huge sigh of relief. Afterall, Who doesn’t love to sleep? I don’t think there is a soul in this world that doesn’t wanna sleep. Ask any man/woman, grown up or child and notice the sparkle in their eyes when speaking about sleep. Similarly ask a person with minimum sleep to know the value of a good 7-8 hour sleep. Unfortunately, the world is moving at such fast and competitive pace that one has to sacrifice on something to achieve another thing. Most of the time that ends up being our beauty sleep. But hey, we all have our cherished weekends for that “ME” time, for that extra 5 mins sleep, to snooze the alarm, heck to not even keep an alarm.
Elders have always told us young people that it is very good for body and mind to be up and running before the sun rises. Yes, I can vouch for that as during my school days I used to wake up at 5 am for cricket practice at 6 am and sleep at 10 pm. The day used to go wonderfully well with positive vibes all around. Like the saying goes, ‘Early to bed early to rise’, I followed it meticulously for a good 3 years.
Now, as a working professional though it is totally the opposite. I look forward to that Saturday and Sunday to sleep in and I hear my mother saying that it is not good. Heck, Studies have now found that there is a chance that it may help you extend your life in this paradise called Earth. Of course like a two faced coin there are alternate theories that prove that catching up on missed sleep or sleeping in during weekends are bad for one’s health.
I would like to look at the positive side of that coin though (whichever is the positive, as it may vary from each person’s perspective). Not only weekends but any time I get I would like to sleep in. Anyways, leaving my side of the story aside let’s get into the actual facts.
Researchers from Sweden’s Karolinska Institute analyzed the health records of nearly 44,000 people and found that adults younger than 65 who slept an average of five hours or less per weeknight but got eight or more hours of sleep on the weekends had a good chance of living longer, in comparison to those who slept six to seven hours every week night.
In contrast, the ones who slept for five hours or less a night on weekends, well their mortality rate stood at a modest 52% higher than people who slept for seven hours a night on weekends.
The key point to note here is that the study says a mortality rate of 52% which is not convincing enough and could be attributed to a multitude of factors. Yes, sleep is an important part of one’s life cycle and it is the body’s way of charging itself similar to a cell phone charging its battery. But we all would have noticed what happens to the battery when we undercharge and overcharge.
I conclude by stating this- It is up-to each individual on how or when and how much of sleep each person requires as it is their body and only they know what is needed.
