Why ‘Banking Sleep’ at Weekends Doesn't Pay Dividends

If your life’s ‘To Do’ list squeezes out sleep during the week, catch-up on weekends! Have you been tempted to buy into this common sleep myth? Bottom line: it is just that. A myth. In fact, one of many… (find out which other sleep myths may be cramping your zzzs). The idea of banking sleep on weekends or any other time, when not part of a daily sleep health routine (think seven to nine hours per night for required cognitive and physical health), will still leave you short-changed when it comes to living your best life possible. Here's how to kick-start your best life possible in 10 days!

 

You see, sleep is the one thing in life that doesn’t fall under the ‘no worries’ mindset of doing everything in moderation nor can it be reshuffled on your ‘To Do’ list under the ‘Non-urgent, I’ll get to that tomorrow…’ category. Sleep has to be done routinely within a daily 24-hour cycle, ideally starting not long after the sun sets and your sleep hormone, melatonin, naturally kicks in, keeping your internal body clock (aka circadian rhythm) on time, and your life happily on track. 

This doesn’t mean a sleep routine – which naturally retrains your body and brain to rediscover the joy of sleeping when you’re supposed to – frowns on sleep-ins (preferably the luxuriously #guiltfree kind), daytime naps (studies show 20 minutes can work wonders if you’re running a little low on quality sleep) or, in the case of night shift workers, sleeping when the sun shines (tip: eye masks and ear plugs are a must). Put simply, sleep is not optional and can’t be squeezed out in the daily juggle of striking a healthy work/life balance, without unwelcome consequences. Not least being reduced productivity and increased stress.

 

Of more concern, as outlined in the recent Parliamentary Inquiry into Sleep Health Awareness in Australia, one in four Australians are regularly sleep deprived, placing their health at serious risk – including heightened risk of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular conditions and cancer, as well as impaired judgement and mental health. Psst: we’ve done the hard work for you, and summarised the inquiry’s findings here. 

What’s more, on the specific question of whether people can maintain ‘human performance’ after chronic sleep loss (including pulling all-nighters) by supersizing sleep sessions in between, a Harvard Medical School study concluded ‘No’. 
According to the study, even if you sleep an extra 10 hours to make up for sleeping only six hours a night over a period of two weeks, your reaction times and ability to focus are worse than if you’d pulled an all-nighter. 

Don’t stress! The Goodnight Co. is on a mission to help you create better days, through better sleep. We spend our waking hours curating all-natural (and proudly all-Australian) snooze-worthy products and programs to help you kiss goodnight the following ‘sleep deprivation frustrations’ as part of an effective sleep health routine:

  1. Can’t Fall Asleep (try our Fall Asleep Faster Kit)
  2. Wake Up Often (try our Stay Asleep Kit
  3. Poor Quality Sleep / Wake Up Feeling Tired (try our Feel Well Rested Kit)

 

Did you know? Based on the Law of Averages, by the time your birthday rocks 79 candles, you’ll have spent approximately 26 years or 9,496 days asleep – plus an additional seven years or 2,556 days of your life trying to get to sleep! That’s a lot of time spent staring at the ceiling, tossing and turning! 61,344 hours to be exact. In fact, far more time than you spend eating (4.5 years or 1,583 days); going on holiday (3.1 years or 1,146 days); using social media (3 years or 1095 days); or even ‘being romantic’ (1.08 years or 395 days)!

#Ahem. Instead of staring at the ceiling – or worse still, any one of a multitude of screens (tip: screen time before bedtime is one of sleep’s biggest disruptors, negatively impacting your ability to fall asleep and impairing next day alertness) – your brain and body will thank you for tapping into a 100% natural range of evidence-based sleep health products. Seriously. What’s not to love, when the science of sleep extends to luxurious silk pillowcases and eye masks, pure essential oils, feel-good remedies, bath bombs and more…


The Goodnight Co. is your sleep and wellness partner.
We will never put our name to products we don’t use and love.

Tags: Science