Should you wake up at the same time on weekends?
What the research found, how to do it, and every source the episode cites.
The verdict
Track your sleep.
- When
- your alarm goes off
- Then
- get up, even on Saturday
§ 01 · The protocol
§ 02 · Transcript
- The question
Should you wake up at the same time on weekends?
- How it works
Two systems decide when you sleep. Sleep pressure is an hourglass that fills from the moment you wake. Your body clock, set by light, releases melatonin at night. When both say night, sleep comes easily. Sleep in, and the hourglass starts late. Your clock moves much less.
- The research
In one experiment, teenagers who slept in for one weekend had body clocks about forty-five minutes later by Sunday night.
- The protocol
So wake at the same time every day, weekends included. Go to bed at the same time each night.
- The verdict
Track your sleep with Anvilus and see if it improves your sleep onset.
§ 03 · In the sources' words
“DLMO phase delayed over TYPICAL weekends… by (mean ± SD) 45 ± 31 min; none manifested a phase advance”
“a sleep–wake-dependent homeostatic process (Process S) interacts with a process controlled by the circadian pacemaker (Process C) … A saturating exponential function … represents the rise in sleep pressure during waking”
“its production rhythm is regulated by the SCN… little secretion during the day, beginning at night”
“We suggest that clinicians not use sleep hygiene as a single-component therapy for the treatment of chronic insomnia in adults (CONDITIONAL)”
§ 04 · Sources
- Crowley SJ, Carskadon MA. Modifications to weekend recovery sleep delay circadian phase in older adolescents. Chronobiol Int 2010;27(7):1469–1492
- Burgess HJ, Eastman CI. A late wake time phase delays the human dim light melatonin rhythm. Neurosci Lett 2006;395(3):191–195
- Phillips AJK et al. Irregular sleep/wake patterns are associated with poorer academic performance and delayed circadian and sleep/wake timing. Sci Rep 2017;7:3216
- Borbély A. The two-process model of sleep regulation: Beginnings and outlook. J Sleep Res 2022;31:e13598
- Eto T, Higuchi S. Review on age-related differences in non-visual effects of light: melatonin suppression, circadian phase shift and pupillary light reflex. J Physiol Anthropol 2023;42:13
- Edinger JD et al. Behavioral and psychological treatments for chronic insomnia disorder in adults: an AASM clinical practice guideline. J Clin Sleep Med 2021;17(2):255–262
- Edinger JD et al. Behavioral and psychological treatments for chronic insomnia disorder in adults: an AASM systematic review, meta-analysis, and GRADE assessment. J Clin Sleep Med 2021;17(2):263–298
- Zisapel N. New perspectives on the role of melatonin in human sleep, circadian rhythms and their regulation. Br J Pharmacol 2018;175:3190 (physiology only; the author's company makes a melatonin drug)
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