Not a lie. It can't beat actual sleep at the time you feel tired but really helps a lot.
- source: I've been doing it for years.
Weekend ‘catch-up sleep’ is a lie
61–70 of 257 posts
Re: Weekend ‘catch-up sleep’ is a lie
#62Earlier quoted context omitted.
In the absence of any actual evidence? Generally we take self-reported feelings as not especially strong evidence. Maybe all it says is they grew up thinking that "weekend sleeping helped catch-up" and now they only remember the confirming evidence and discard the disconfirming evidence to support their confirmation bias?
I think the actual evidence, for the OP, is that he/she feels better. I don't think it matters if no one else feels better. OP isn't making a scientific claim other than they feel better after a weekend of sleep.
I have a friend who deeply believes that he can drink unlimited amounts of beer and not get drunk. He will drive his car home after drinking 10 beers.
Should his feelings count as evidence in any meaningful sense?
Or do we generally assume that his feelings -- especially since they are contrary to science -- are not a good guide to what really happens?
Re: Weekend ‘catch-up sleep’ is a lie
#63Earlier quoted context omitted.
The "science" in the linked WaPo article, and the science from the journal, weakly indicate that if you get 5 hours of sleep each night for an entire work week you will get fat, and sleeping in for an extra hour on the weekend won't stop you getting even more fat when you do the same thing on Monday and Tuesday. This has almost nothing to do with what ferros said. No, resting on the weekend won't uneat or burn the ex…
How does sleeping less make you fat? Eating more will make you fat, eating less will make you less fat. If you sleep less you have more time to eat more, but that still requires the eating to happen.
"Calories in" is only part of the equation. Sleep metabolism is different from waking metabolism.
Also, to your point, very few people spend their sleeping hours eating. You could eat 1500 calories for every meal and be very lithe - if you slept 23 hours a day. By contrast, it seems anecdotally that people who get less sleep tend to eat more food and more of it is unhealthy: late night Taco Bell, delivery when you're pulling an all-nighter, etc.
Best diet pill on the market? Unisom.
Re: Weekend ‘catch-up sleep’ is a lie
#64I don't care what the study says. I'm not going to stop trying.
Re: Weekend ‘catch-up sleep’ is a lie
#65Study or not, I feel great after sleeping in on Saturday mornings. I look forward to it all week. Sensational studies like this come out all the time, usually don’t hold up over time and peer review. Wish people would get so excited over shorter work weeks.
Re: Weekend ‘catch-up sleep’ is a lie
#66When I say catch up on sleep, I simply mean I finally feel more rested. It was never meant to be taken literally. I wish all these people "debunking" it would understand that.
Re: Weekend ‘catch-up sleep’ is a lie
#67Earlier quoted context omitted.
How does sleeping less make you fat? Eating more will make you fat, eating less will make you less fat. If you sleep less you have more time to eat more, but that still requires the eating to happen.
"Calories in" is only part of the equation. Sleep metabolism is different from waking metabolism. Also, to your point, very few people spend their sleeping hours eating. You could eat 1500 calories for every meal and be very lithe - if you slept 23 hours a day. By contrast, it seems anecdotally that people who get less sleep tend to eat more food and more of it is unhealthy: late night Taco Bell, delivery when you're…
> You could eat 1500 calories for every meal and be very lithe - if you slept 23 hours a day.
Not sure if this statement is sound, for the average person.
If you ate 4500 per day, spread across 3, 20 minute meals, and spent the remaining 23 hours sleeping... your energy expenditure would be minimal, whilst your energy intake large. The average person would gain weight rapidly. (300lb athletes perhaps not, but these are outliers).
Re: Weekend ‘catch-up sleep’ is a lie
#68I highly recommend reading Matthew Walker‘s Why We Sleep [0] where stuff like the above mentioned is summed up. Great read! [0] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34466963
I loved the book, but I know so many functional adults living their entire life underslept, that I think it must miss compensating mechanisms.
Re: Weekend ‘catch-up sleep’ is a lie
#69Earlier quoted context omitted.
The important thing to keep in mind there is that it doesn't much matter what the science tells you: It makes you feel better and it costs you almost nothing. That makes it a valuable pursuit even if we couldn't find evidence for it working (though another post in this chain mentions some evidence that it does work for a single week).
When sleeping more shortens my waking life, I really want to know how important it is.
That's a very important question that should be answered, but your implicit assumption that sleeping shortens waking life should at least be verified. It looks like chronic lack of sleep shortens life expectancy.
Re: Weekend ‘catch-up sleep’ is a lie
#70Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think the actual evidence, for the OP, is that he/she feels better. I don't think it matters if no one else feels better. OP isn't making a scientific claim other than they feel better after a weekend of sleep.
I have a friend who deeply believes that he can drink unlimited amounts of beer and not get drunk. He will drive his car home after drinking 10 beers. Should his feelings count as evidence in any meaningful sense? Or do we generally assume that his feelings -- especially since they are contrary to science -- are not a good guide to what really happens?
And remember that spinach has a lot of iron, butter is good for you in 1940, bad for you in 1970, good for you in 2010.
Margarine is good for you in 1970, bad for you in 2010.
Good luck.