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Extra hours of shut-eye on weekends boost heart health, study finds

Those extra hours of snoozing over the weekend to make up for sleep lost during a busy week are boosting heart health in many people, according to a new study.

The research, which was , tracked the sleep habits of more than 90,000 people and found that those who sleep-in on Saturday and Sunday mornings may reduce their chances of developing heart disease and stroke by 19%.

And the longer the dream time, the better.

鈥淭hose who got the most 鈥榗atch up鈥 sleep on the weekend, tended to have the lower incidents of cardiovascular outcomes,鈥 said Dr. Joe Lodato, a cardiologist at Kaiser Permanente in D.C.

Researchers found lower rates of heart disease, high blood pressure and stroke among the group.

The study doesn’t detail how much extra sleep is enough. But it’s good news for people with busy schedules and not enough time to get some shut-eye during the week, Lodato said.

But he warned against making a habit of sleeping-in on the weekend.

鈥淥ptimal sleep really is 7 to 8 hours of sleep every night,鈥 he said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 the take-home point. We really should be getting good sleep every night, because it鈥檚 really critical to overall health.鈥

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Gigi Barnett

Gigi Barnett is an anchor at WTOP. She has worked in the media for more than 20 years. Before joining WTOP, she was an anchor at WJZ-TV in Baltimore, KXAN-TV in Austin, Texas, and a staff reporter at The Miami Herald. She鈥檚 a Navy wife and mom of three.

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