DR. MICHAEL SMITH: You've had
a hard week-- long days,
short nights.
You're craving
some blissful shut-eye,
and a whole weekend looms
before you.
But will sleeping in on Saturday
and Sunday make up for all
those lost hours?
Well, the answer is, sort of.
Studies have shown
that extra sleep does make you
feel better, but it doesn't
actually help your brain
with reaction times or tasks.
A small study found that too
little sleep may raise
your chances of Type 2 diabetes,
and that catching up on weekends
might reverse that risk.
But it's too soon to say
for sure.
And if you do sleep a lot
after a tough week,
you may completely throw off
your schedule, so the best thing
you can do
is try to get more sleep
during the week.
But we're pretty
sure an occasional lazy Saturday
morning won't hurt.
For WebMD, I'm Dr. Michael
Smith.
