The Monday to Friday in most of us has been heavily trained through years of conditioning to wake up early and go to bed early – or at least if you are in the majority of the population. However, on the other hand, many people look towards the weekend as a chance to get their sleep back on track. Using the extra time off, to sleep away half the day, or “catch up”.
Maybe people will even find themselves sleeping that 12 hours they felt they ‘lost’ throughout the course of the week. Maybe you will even think to yourself after reading thus far that this information doesn’t quite seem right. And you wouldn’t be that far off the mark. Sleeping in, to catch up on sleep is actually a bad habit, and could lead to sleep problems like insomnia.
Why Sleep Problems are Caused by Sleeping in
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The habit may have started as a result of over work during the week, or the fact that growing up, it is how it was simply always done. You were indulged and sleeping in felt like a luxury. The bottom line is that it isn’t. There are any number of reasons why sleeping in on the weekend is not good for your body, and could lead to further sleep problems, or even insomnia.
The bottom line is pretty simple. When you sleep in, you do a number on your internal sleep clock, which can make for a break in your sleep routine that could take a good deal of time to fix. So that one day a week of luxury, could come back to haunt you for days and weeks to come. So is it really worth it?
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Experts say that one of the biggest wives tales of sleep is that you can “bank” sleep. This idea comes from the thought that any sleep you gain over the weekend, can be “banked” for when you lose it during the week. Proponents say this will make you less tired by default, because you had the sleep saved up in the so-called “bank”.
Experts go so far against the “banking sleep” theory that they say for each hour that you oversleep your regular wake-up time sets your internal sleep clock off by two whole hours. So while you may notice that your social calendar might not be quite as busy as a result of these responsible sleep habits, the benefits to your health might outweigh that downfall.
The amount of sleep problems and insomnia that are caused by simply sleeping in, and messing up your sleep clock might have you thinking twice before you turn off your alarm on Saturday morning.
