Science says: don't sleep in too long during the holidays

Just a little longer and we will finally have Christmas vacation. That means: lots of eating, drinking, doing nothing, and no alarm clock, so plenty of sleeping in. Or maybe not? Because is sleeping in actually good for our sleep rhythm, or does it make it much harder to get out of bed after the holidays? Personally, I always find sleeping in on the weekend delightful, but on Monday I just absolutely cannot wake up. The whole day feels like I am recovering, and only on Tuesday am I fully back.

According to psychotherapist and online sleep trainer Annelies Smolders, we can sleep in just fine, as long as it’s not longer than an hour and a half. According to her, rhythm actually promotes your sleep: ‘If you want to respect your biorhythm and counteract sleep complaints, getting up at the same time every day is the best thing you can do. Our biological clock loves rhythm after all. If you get out of bed at the same time every day, you also build up sleep pressure at the same time in the evening. We like that predictability.‘

It’s logical then that this predictability disappears when we suddenly sleep a few hours longer in the morning. According to Annelies, this is especially the case on Sundays. Many people already feel stressed at the thought of having to get up early again on Monday. Moreover, at the time you would normally go to bed, you are not yet tired because you slept in that morning. That explains a lot.

Fortunately, this doesn’t mean we can’t sleep in anymore. ‘If you choose to sleep in, sleep a maximum of an hour and a half extra. That is the time you need to go through all the sleep phases. If you wake up then, you feel rested,’ says Annelies. She sees that students who sleep until the afternoon have their sleep too far shifted. As a result, they only get their normal rhythm back on Wednesday. Furthermore, Annelies says that we should generally go to bed earlier rather than sleep in longer: ‘The first hours of sleep are qualitatively the best. Those last hours during sleeping in don’t contain much quality.’

So we can enjoy sleeping in during the upcoming vacation, as long as we don’t go overboard. Finally, Annelies gives the tip that we shouldn’t start counting, because that way you actually create a sleep problem. So what should we do instead? Go to bed when we feel sleepy: ‘If you just attended a sports class or studied hard, your sleepiness will simply come later. Trying to create sleep is pointless. It’s better to take a little more rest and listen to your body.’

I can’t entirely deny that I sleep in longer than an hour and a half on the weekends. Maybe I should set the alarm for an hour and a half later from now on? I’m not sure yet, I’ll think about it.

Source: Womenshealth