The American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends adolescents aged between 13 and 18 years old sleep between 8 and 10 hours on a regular basis. CDC data, however, shows that just 23% of high school students get an adequate amount of sleep on an average school night. This leads many teens to try make up for lost sleep over the weekend.
While sufficient sleep is linked to better mental and physical health outcomes, insufficient sleep in adolescents is linked to a higher risk of mental health problems, including depression and suicidal thoughts. Results from studies analyzing the mental health effects of weekend catchup sleep have produced mixed results across age groups.
In the current study, researchers investigated the effects of weekend catchup sleep on mental health symptoms in adolescents- specifically, ‘internalizing symptoms’, which are characterized by symptoms of depression, anxiety, and somatization.
To do so, they analyzed data from 1, 877 individuals with an average age of 13.5 years old from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study. Sleep duration was measured via Fitbit devices, while internalizing symptoms were captured via the Brief Problem Monitor-Youth (BPM-Y) questionnaire. Weekend catchup sleep was defined as the difference between weekend and weekday sleep duration.
Ultimately, the researchers found that adolescents with 0-2 hours of weekend catchup sleep exhibited fewer internalizing symptoms than those without any weekend catchup sleep. They further found that weekend catchup sleep durations exceeding 2 hours were linked to a slight increase in internalizing symptoms at a four-year follow-up.
“Moderate weekend catchup sleep (0–2 hours) may protect against internalizing symptoms in adolescents, while excessive weekend catchup sleep appears to have the opposite effect. These findings highlight the importance of understanding optimal sleep balance during adolescence, though further research is needed to clarify the directionality of these relationships,” concluded the researchers in their study.
Sources: Science Daily, Sleep
