Feature - Sleep Charts & Data Insights, Sleeping troubles

Can You Really “Catch Up” on Sleep? The Weekend Recovery Myth

October 2, 2025

We’ve all done it: sleeping until noon Saturday and Sunday, only to feel awful Monday morning. So, is sleeping in good or bad? The truth is—it depends.

When Sleeping In Helps

If you’re truly sleep deprived (five hours or less during the week), research shows weekend catch-up sleep can lower your risk of dying early. Your body can sense the deficit and tries to make up for it.

But here’s the catch: this only helps people who are running on fumes. If you’re getting six to seven hours, the benefits mostly disappear.

When It Doesn’t Work

For most people, weekend sleep-ins don’t undo the damage of lost sleep. Studies show that even with recovery sleep, people still:

  • Gain weight
  • Have worse insulin sensitivity
  • Eat more, especially at night

Your body simply can’t reset in two days.

The Social Jet Lag Problem

Sleeping in also shifts your internal clock later. You miss morning light, get more evening light, and basically trick your body into thinking you changed time zones. Come Monday, it feels like jet lag—groggy, out of sync, and miserable.

The Real Fix

The real issue isn’t weekend recovery—it’s weekday sleep loss. The best approach is consistency:

  • Aim for enough sleep every night.
  • Keep your bedtime and wake time steady—even on weekends.
  • Get morning light and dim lights at night.

Weekend catch-up can be a temporary band-aid if you’re severely deprived, but for most people, it backfires.

Bottom line: Don’t rely on weekends to fix your sleep. Focus on building a weekday routine that actually works with your body’s clock.

👉 Want to discover the sleep schedule that fits your rhythms? Download Arcashift and find your personalized rhythm.

References

Åkerstedt, T., Ghilotti, F., Grotta, A., Zhao, H., Adami, H. O., Trolle-Lagerros, Y., & Bellocco, R. (2019). Sleep duration and mortality – Does weekend sleep matter? Journal of Sleep Research, 28(1), e12712. https://doi.org/10.1111/jsr.12712

Depner, C. M., Melanson, E. L., Eckel, R. H., Snell-Bergeon, J. K., Perreault, L., Bergman, B. C., Higgins, J. A., Guerin, M. K., Stothard, E. R., Morton, S. J., & Wright, K. P., Jr. (2019). Ad libitum weekend recovery sleep fails to prevent metabolic dysregulation during a repeating pattern of insufficient sleep and weekend recovery sleep. Current Biology, 29(6), 957–967.e4. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2019.01.069

Klerman, E. B., Czeisler, C. A., Kronauer, R. E., Duffy, J. F., McHill, A. W., Wang, W., Silva, E. J., Ronda, J. M., & St Hilaire, M. A. (2021). Keeping an eye on circadian time in clinical research and medicine. Clinical and Translational Medicine, 11(9), e554. https://doi.org/10.1002/ctm2.554

Roenneberg, T., Winnebeck, E. C., & Klerman, E. B. (2019). Daylight saving time and artificial time zones – A battle between biological and social times. Frontiers in Physiology, 10, 944. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2019.00944
Wehr, T. A., Moul, D. E., Barbato, G., Giesen, H. A., Seidel, J. A., Barker, C., & Bender, C. (1993). Conservation of photoperiod-responsive mechanisms in humans. American Journal of Physiology, 265(4 Pt 2), R846–R857. https://doi.org/10.1152/ajpregu.1993.265.4.R846