Michael Breus, the self-proclaimed “Sleep Doctor,” printed an article on the Psychology Today website that answers a question that is on the minds of the everyday worker and students alike. Can we catch up on sleep deprivation we accumulate during the week by allowing ourselves a few more hours to snooze during the weekend? The answer, unfortunately for many, is no.
Studies done in 2003 by the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research examined the effect of losing sleep for a week and found a decrease in cognitive performance using tests of reaction time as well as other psychomotor tasks. They then allowed three days of “recovery” sleep and found that the individuals still did not perform tasks at the original control level.
In 2008, a similar study was done in the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden when the subject pool slept four hours a night for five days and followed it with eight hours of sleep a night for the next week. Although there was more “recovery” time in this scenario and many of the participants stated that they were not tired by the end of the experiment, they still showed slight cognitive impairment even in the tasks given on the last day.
On the other hand, it is more beneficial to bank on a lot of sleep BEFORE going into a period of deprivation, according to another study by the Walter Reed Army Institute in 2009. However, taking this measure can only do so much. That is why it truly is best to avoid sleep deprivation at all costs, but when you absolutely have to stay up to accomplish something, it is best to plan it out beforehand and bank hours of sleep rather than catch up later.
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