Is it safe to have a weekend lie-in? Could sleeping in at the weekends be harmful?

Many of us look forward to the weekend as a chance to switch off the alarm clock, sleep in and catch up on rest. This habit, commonly known as a lie-in, involves delaying morning waking times to extend sleep beyond usual weekdays. For example, someone waking at 6:00 am during the week might sleep until 9:00 am on Saturday and Sunday. 

We all know that sleep has positive effects on energy, health and wellbeing, so surely getting more sleep at the weekend must be a good thing?

Well.. not necessarily.

Irregular sleep patterns can have negative impacts on sleep quality, and disrupt our circadian rhythms - so lying in could be a double-edged sword... 

In this blog we’ll look at the evidence for and against catching up on sleep at the weekend, and how to make the most of your lie-in without negative effects. 

What are the benefits of a lie-in?

1. Lie-ins can help you recover from a sleep debt

Around 1 in 3 adults routinely get fewer than the recommended 7 hours sleep during the working week. For example, in 50,000 students in Norway, 30% got fewer than 7 hours sleep and 81% slept for longer at the weekend in an attempt to catch up (Vestergaard et al 2024). In France, a survey of 12,000 working age adults, 36% got fewer than 6 hours of sleep (Leger et al 2020). 

Short sleep is associated with a wide array of negative outcomes including anxiety, poor concentration, impaired learning, diabetes, heart disease and even early mortality. In the Norwegian study, short sleepers who slept in at the weekends had better health outcomes and exam results than those with short sleep all week. However, the best outcomes were for those who slept for 7+ hours all week. In the French survey, 1 in 4 adults used naps or weekend sleep to reduce their sleep debt. 

2. Could lie-ins reduce the risks of heart disease, diabetes and depression?

You might have seen headlines such as ‘weekend lie-ins could save your life’. Several cross-sectional studies have found that for people sleeping for 6 hours or less during the week, weekend catch up sleep could reduce their risk of heart disease (Zhu et al 2024).

Studies in Korea and the US have also found that 1-2 hours of weekend catch up sleep are linked to lower odds of depression than not catching up on sleep at weekends (Ha Park et al 2022, Liu et al 2024, Le et al 2025). One large US study found that 1–2 hours of weekend catch up sleep was positively associated with blood glucose regulation (and lower rates of diabetes) whereas 3 or more hours of weekend catch up sleep was negatively associated with blood glucose regulation (Kim et al 2024).

However, recent research found no protective effect of weekend catch up sleep on heart disease or mortality over time, even for those sleeping for 6 hours or less (Chaput et al 2024). This finding calls into question protective effects of a lie-in, and suggests that more research is needed (Gao et al 2024). 

What are the risks associated with a weekend lie in?

1. Weekend lie-ins don’t replace weekday sleep

One of the big limitations with attempting to ‘catchup’ at weekends is that most people don’t get enough sleep to fully recover from their sleep debt. This has been demonstrated in lab studies, for example: 

36 healthy young adults were given either a 5 hours sleep opportunity for 9 nights OR sleep restricted to 5 hours for 5 nights, then 2 nights of catch up sleep, then 2 more nights of sleep restriction (Depner et al 2019). Both groups snacked more (especially after dinner), had a decrease in insulin sensitivity and gained 1kg weight during the 9 day experiment. Although the weekend catch up group slept an extra 1.1 hours at the ‘weekend’, and went back to eating a normal amount, this was not enough for metabolic measures to recover. 

In another study, volunteers had their sleep restricted to 6 hours for 6 nights, and then had 3 nights to recover. Inflammatory markers, fatigue and sleepiness increased during sleep restriction but recovered after 3 longer nights of sleep. In contrast, performance at an attention task was still impaired after 3 nights of recovery sleep (Pejovic et al 2013). 

2. Lie-ins result in ‘Social Jetlag’ - aka Circadian Disruption

Lying in at the weekend doesn’t just extend sleep time, it changes the timing of sleep. The difference in sleep timing between weekdays and weekends can lead to ‘Social Jetlag’. Social jetlag is used to describe the difference between biological time, determined by our internal body clock, and social times, caused by social demands such as school or work. It has been estimated that 70% of adults have at least one hour of social jetlag at weekends, and almost half experience 2 hours or more (Caliandro et al 2021). Teenagers and young adults who have a delayed chronotype, or night owl preference, are more likely to suffer from social jetlag, since they have a preference for later waking and sleep times than school or work may allow. 

When we operate at odds with our internal body clocks, this puts stress on the body which we call circadian disruption. Night shift work is a major cause of circadian disruption, and in the long term this is linked to increased risks of obesity, diabetes mellitus, metabolic syndrome (MetS), cancer, cardiovascular diseases, cognitive impairments, and Alzheimer’s disease.

Social jetlag is a less severe form of circadian disruption than shift work, but nonetheless it is associated with poor sleep quality, and multiple health risks including weight gain, diabetes and poor cognitive performance  (Caliandro et al 2021).  

One study of nearly 1,000 adults by Kings College London scientists found that even a 90-minute difference in the midpoint of a night's sleep over the course of a normal week could influence the types of bacteria found in the human gut. People with social jetlag had a poorer diet quality, and higher markers of inflammation than those with no social jetlag (Bermingham et al 2023).

How can you have a healthy lie-in?

Experts from the National Sleep Foundation recommend up to 1-2 hours of catch up sleep and/or naps to offset sleep debt accumulated during the week (Sletten et al 2023). 

In other words, the secret to a healthy lie in, is to get as close as possible to your sleep need during the week, so that you minimise disruption to sleep timing at the weekend. 

A few other suggestions.. 

• If you are very short of sleep, a brief nap (20-30 minutes) early in the day can be a more effective way to reduce fatigue without disrupting night-time sleep patterns.

• You don’t need to catch up on every hour of lost sleep. Recovery sleep is often more concentrated with deep sleep and REM sleep, provided that you have good conditions for sleep. 

• If you’re trying to get more sleep, make small changes each day, such as by shifting your bedtime 15 minutes earlier - our circadian rhythms adjust slowly.