End the Nightmare of Sleep Loss

There's a biological reason why we can still feel tired during the week even after a good weekend lie-in, says Sarah Rainey.

It’s 3.21am on Saturday. The digits on the alarm clock cast an acid-green glow over the room, and the music from the bar I left four hours earlier is still resonating in my ears. The red dot on my BlackBerry is blinking, while an unread message lights up my iPhone screen. As I twist and turn, only one thought sustains me as I yearn for sleep: at least I can have a lie-in in the morning.

Sleeping in is a guilty pleasure of the weekend. A couple of luxurious extra hours in bed to help us catch up on sleep lost during the working week is what we think we all need. But according to a new study, sleeping in doesn’t help us feel more awake. It doesn’t boost our energy levels. In fact, it has the opposite effect. It disrupts the body’s internal clock so much that just a few extra hours makes us feel even more tired than normal on Monday morning. Read more