Woman Sleeping (Photo : Reuters/PRNewsFoto)
While several past studies showed a link between sleeping in and higher risks of diabetes and heart disease, new research has found a similar connection among people who oversleep on the weekend. After tracking when the subjects fell asleep and woke up, scientists discovered that getting more shut-eye on Saturday and Sunday resulted in less "good" cholesterol, greater insulin resistance, and higher body mass index (BMI). It seems that hitting the alarm clock's snooze button when catching up on sleep could affect people's biorhythms and be bad for their health.
The study was published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. It was conducted by the University of Pittsburgh.
Researchers evaluated almost 450 men and women between the ages of 30 and 54. They were required to wear devices that tracked the times they fell asleep and woke up, and measured their movements, according to The New York Times.
Researchers learned that nearly 85 percent of the participants nodded off and awoke later on their days off work than during weekdays. The greater the ratio between the amount of sleep on weekdays and weekends, the greater the metabolic risk was. Changes were made to results for factors such as caloric intake, physical activity, tobacco smoking, and alcohol drinking.
Patricia M. Wong is a University of Pittsburgh graduate student. She explained that when people's work times and sleeping schedules were not synchronized with their internal clocks, it resulted in negative health effects. Examples of affected metabolic cycles include fat build-up in tissues, insulin released in the liver and pancreas, and the gut's food absorption, according to Ars Technica.
While sleeping in can be bad for one's health, sleep deprivation can also cause negative effects. A 2010 study by the United Kingdom's University of Warwick linked lack of sleep to obesity; and higher blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and risk of early death.
Here are some of the main health effects of oversleeping:
