Healthy sleep Sleep well at the weekend has a health risk

Irregular sleep seriously endangers your health
Most people in today's society have to get up early every day of the week to get to work on time. So it is not surprising that many people enjoy the luxury of having a good night's sleep, especially on weekends. But such an irregular sleep rhythm can bring negative consequences. Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh found that this irregular sleep has a direct impact on our health and severely damages it.

Do you belong to the people who are up very early every day of the week and then like to sleep a little longer at the weekend? Then you could harm your health and increase your risk of heart disease and diabetes. This is the conclusion of a study carried out by researchers from the University of Pittsburgh. The results of this study published the physicians in the journal "Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism". For some time, scientists have suggested that irregular sleeping may endanger our health. These assumptions have now been confirmed by the results of the current study. Even if you regularly change the rhythm of your sleep, you severely affect your health, the researchers warned.

Shifts in sleeping patterns at the weekend are not good for your health. (Image: vadymvdrobot / fotolia.com)

Study captures sleep habits and reveals consequences
The physicians examined in their study the sleeping habits of 447 men and women. The volunteers were initially asked about their eating habits and their sports activities, after which all subjects were equipped with sleep-monitoring equipment. With these devices, the scientists were able to record the participants' sleep patterns and analyze them later. The researchers came up with interesting results. So it was clear that about 85 percent of all subjects on "work-free" days had a changed sleep rhythm. The affected people reached the "half-time of their total sleep" later, as on days when they got up early to do their work, the doctors said in a statement.

Shift workers particularly at risk
Irregular sleep can have a negative impact on our health in many ways, the Pittsburgh researchers warned. The risk of heart disease and diabetes increases. The cholesterol levels are getting worse and the insulin level is rising. The body mass index (BMI) may increase and people who do not sleep regularly tend to have a wider waist circumference. Shift workers are particularly affected by these effects. Due to the constantly changing working hours, the sleep rhythm is usually very confused with such people.

Sport does not protect against unhealthy effects
Surprisingly enough, the effects of irregular sleep are so severe that even test persons who exercise regularly are affected by the negative effects. If future studies confirm the results, it is urgently necessary for our society to think about our modern professional world, changing working hours (shift work) and their consequences for our health, said co-author Patricia Wong in a statement.