After weeks of intense work, you must think that the bed on Saturday will help to catch up on sleep. But scientists did a study to show that this really does not.
The great thing is that this habit improves sleepiness but does not bring back the performance deteriorated by regular sleep restricted to six hours per night. By spending time lying down, it can feel a little more lucid, but still is slow.
The researcher Alexandros Vgontzas, sleep expert and professor of psychiatry, monitored young men and women who have spent 13 consecutive nights in his laboratory.
They slept eight hours in the first four nights. After sleeping hours were reduced to six for six nights. Then, three nights of "recovery" with ten hours of sleep.
The usual practice of extending sleep during the weekend after a week of work associated with loss of sleep is not enough to reverse the cumulative effects on cognitive function resulting from this deprivation.
But there is some good news - at least for men. Research shows that they are less able to cope with lack of sleep than they - meaning that if anyone deserves a slow weekend, they are.
Vgontzas added that women in deep sleep seemed to have a protective effect, and females cope better with the sleepless nights. Other research also published in the Daily Mail revealed that the difficulty for a woman to sleep can be bad for marriage. Husbands with insomnia, however, does not have the same negative effect on marital happiness.