Catching up on sleep on weekends may lower heart disease risk by 20%, new study finds. Before you turn off your alarm, read this.

Good news if you like to turn off your alarm on weekends and relish sleeping in: A new study suggests that catching up on sleep to make up for not getting enough shut-eye during the week may lower the risk of heart disease by 20%.

The research is surprising given that sleep experts have emphasized for years the importance of keeping a consistent sleep schedule — namely, getting up and going to bed around the same time every day, even on weekends.

For the study, the researchers used data from nearly 91,000 subjects involved in the UK Biobank project, and investigated the relationship between compensated weekend sleep, aka catch-up sleep, and heart disease. They found that getting enough compensatory sleep is linked with a lower heart disease risk, especially for people who regularly don’t get enough sleep on weekdays. Those who logged the most compensatory sleep — at least an hour and 15 minutes or more extra shut-eye — saw a reduction in heart disease risk compared to those who got less than seven hours of sleep per night.

The study authors defined sleep deprivation as less than seven hours of sleep per night, which is in line with the American Academy of Sleep Medicine’s recommendation that adults get seven or more hours of sleep nightly to avoid the health risks associated with lack of sleep. However, many people fall short: More than one-third of adults get less than seven hours of sleep.

So what’s the connection between sleep and heart health? And can you really play catch-up on weekends? Here’s what sleep experts say.

How does sleep affect heart health?

Dr. Nitun Verma, sleep medicine specialist and spokesperson for the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, says that sleep is one of the three pillars of a healthy lifestyle: good nutrition, regular exercise and sufficient sleep. “Sleeping less than seven hours per night on average has a higher risk of blood pressure, which results in a higher risk of cardiac events,” he tells Yahoo Life. “We don’t know how curvy that line is between insufficient sleep and cardiac events, but there are a lot of studies that show less than seven hours is not healthy.”

Dr. Chris Winter, a neurologist, sleep specialist and host of the Sleep Unplugged podcast, tells Yahoo Life that “cardiovascular health takes a big hit” when sleep is insufficient in quantity (sleep deprivation), of poor quality (e.g., someone with sleep apnea) or simply inconsistent (such as with shift workers).

Is it healthy or unhealthy to sleep in?

Winter says that “population studies for years have shown that relatively short-term sleep debt can be ‘repaid’ by weekend sleep or in a time period within a few days of when the sleep best occurs.” He points to a 2019 study — “Sleep duration and mortality — Does weekend sleep matter?” — that showed “individuals who repaid their recent sleep debt via weekend sleep seemed to live just as long as more consistent sleepers.”

However, other studies show that sleeping too long past your regular wake-up time comes with other potential health risks. For example, a new study found that people whose sleep duration varied by more than 60 minutes on average had the highest risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

Instead, Winters suggests thinking of weekend sleep like a credit card. “It's probably fine to charge up a small debt as long as you pay it off quickly … before fees, penalties and interest accumulates,” he says. “I'm not sure using the card is more beneficial than simply always paying with cash that you already have, but it can be a safe alternative when that choice is not available. In other words, if you have the choice, sleep consistently the proper amount.” If that’s not possible, he says, “get it when you can.”

So it’s OK to sleep in?

Experts say it really depends on your sleep issues and needs. “It is hard to characterize some sleep behaviors as 'good' or 'bad' because there is strong individual variation,” says Natalie Solomon, an assistant professor in psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine. “There are people who need more sleep and people who need less sleep. There are people who are morning larks and people who are night owls. For example, if one is struggling with insomnia, or one is working to strengthen their circadian clock, maintaining a consistent rise time is very helpful. On the other hand, if one is struggling with insufficient sleep opportunity and daytime sleepiness, without the presence of insomnia symptoms, sleeping in slightly on weekends could be helpful.”

Solomon adds: “Readers should be careful not to interpret findings as 'sleeping in is good,' but rather to think about their individual sleep needs and goals.”

Winter says the real goal should be consistently getting enough quality sleep and trying to maintain a typical wake-up time every day. “Keeping the wake time consistent is helpful to your body and circadian rhythm,” he explains. But when that fails, “weekends or other sleep periods” — such as naps — “can be helpful,” he says. However, Winter adds a caveat: “I would caution individuals who struggle to fall asleep from adopting this ‘sleep when I can’ strategy as that policy can often worsen insomnia.”

Verma views the study as a welcome nudge to prioritize getting a healthy amount of sleep during the week. “It’s a good reminder that sleep is important and the need for catching up on weekends on a regular basis is a great signal — can we do something about the weekday evenings and make that need not as strong?”

Verma adds that, of all of the areas of medicine, sleep is most closely connected to productivity. “We have seen that when people are sleeping better, they're more productive in the day and are able to function faster so they get a few more hours in the day,” he says. “Sleep is better as an investment as opposed to a cost.”