Can You Catch Up On Sleep?

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.