Nothing is better than a weekend lie-in – so why won’t my body let me do it?

All of those YouTube videos telling us to wake up and go to sleep at the same time every day to make our bed habits consistent? Lies! It actually transpires that having a longer sleep at the weekends can do wonders for our health. The lie-in has been formally vindicated.

At least, that was the revelation at the annual meeting of the European Society of Cardiology. Scientists from China’s National Centre for Cardiovascular Disease claimed that those who catch up on sleep at the weekends might reduce the risk of heart disease by almost one-fifth compared to those who don’t. Drawing on a dataset involving 90,000 people in the UK Biobank project, the team used sleep trackers to look at any link between lying in and the disease. Over a 14-year period, they found that those who got the most compensatory sleep on weekends were 19 per cent less likely to develop heart disease compared to those who got the least.

This is good news for slackers, and people like me – meaning people who’ve always longed to be slackers but can’t quite get there, at least not when it comes to sleep. As an adult, I’ve fetishised the art of being able to lie in. Imagine the simple pleasure of rolling into bed after a long week, or possibly a late night, and waking up at, say, 11.30am, feeling fresh as a daisy because you’ve just clocked 11 solid hours of snoozing?

People who can effortlessly do this annoy me. In fact, I’d say they’re right up there alongside those who can eat pasta every day without gaining weight, or people who’ve never broken a bone. It’s irritating. I’ve not been able to have a lie-in since university, when my weeks consisted of just five contact hours (thank you, English degree) and going out every night with the sole responsibility of consuming as many Jagerbombs as the human body will possibly allow without vomiting. The answer is five, by the way.

Back then, I’d regularly sleep till noon, waking up a little dazed and confused but fundamentally well rested – but only because I’d made up for all the hours I’d spent queuing for cheesy chips and chicken nuggets at 3am. This was the case when I was a teenager, too, minus the drunk university food. Even if I went to bed at a reasonable hour, I’d still muster the ability to sleep for 11 and sometimes 12 hours straight every weekend.

Sadly, that is no longer the case. At the ripe age of 30, I have become accustomed to waking up at the same time almost every day: 7.30am. Generally speaking, that is the time I wake up for work each morning. It’s also the time I naturally rise on weekends, even if I’ve been out late the night before. It’s immensely frustrating. I would love to be able to sleep later, and I envy friends who can and are subsequently more resilient to the agonies of hangovers in their thirties. “I feel so refreshed!” they’ll smugly text me at 1pm after securing a solid seven hours. I, meanwhile, am grimly trying to get through the day one Deliveroo order at a time. Is my body broken? Or is this just an unfortunate symptom of ageing that only slightly pathetic people like me are affected by?

“When we’re younger, our sleep, bodies and brains are still maturing, thus we have a greater need for sleep,” explains Frida Rångtell PhD, leading sleep educator and scientific adviser to the baby sleep monitoring app, Napper. “Adolescenthood in particular is a period of rapid physical, emotional and intellectual growth. Sleeping in is a way for our bodies to meet their increased sleep needs during this period of fast development.”

Additionally, we sleep in more when we’re younger because of the natural body clock we have at that point in life – our “circadian rhythm”. “The particular circadian rhythm in young adults and teenagers naturally predisposes them to stay up later, and sleep in later,” Rångtell continues.

The simple fact of the matter is you need less sleep as you get older because your body and brain is no longer developing. But as a teenager, when you’re still growing, you need more sleep to facilitate this, generally between eight to 10 hours. A teenager’s circadian rhythm also means teenage bodies produce more melatonin, the sleep hormone.

“This is why teenagers can be perceived as ‘lazy’ when they sleep in until noon,” explains Dr Lindsay Browning, psychologist and sleep expert for And So to Bed. “However, even if they go to bed late, school will still start at the same time in the morning, meaning that they can’t sleep in, leading to teens often not getting enough sleep and being sleep deprived.”

For teenagers, then, the act of lying in at the weekend is very important indeed. As you move into your twenties, sleep remains important for neurological development, which is why so many useless university students – such as me back then – are able to waste away most mornings in bed. “The brain is still developing up to approximately age 25,” adds Dr Browning. “It is recommended that most young adults in their twenties should be getting around seven to nine hours of good sleep.”

There are many reasons why those who sleep in during their twenties are suddenly unable to do so once they reach their thirties. The first is that, biologically, we tend not to need as much sleep because we’re fully developed; according to The Sleep Foundation, you only need around seven hours a night. And our circadian rhythms tend to stabilise. “That makes us more prone to waking earlier, and less inclined to sleep in,” Rångtell says. “Lifestyle changes and stress can contribute to broken sleep, and make it harder to sleep in.”

open image in gallery

Stress is a known sleep disruptor and can come from any area of tension in your life, whether it’s your job or your personal relationships. This is due to the impact that cortisol – the hormone the body produces under stress – has on our circadian rhythm. This can mean your body can’t stay asleep for as long, because when cortisol levels are high, your body is on high alert, meaning you might wake up earlier than usual, or during the night, out of anxiety.

This is something I’ve experienced a lot more as I’ve gotten older, and the lifestyle stressors of home, work, and finances have become more serious as the stakes have increased. I can also definitely feel the effects of alcohol on my body more potently in my thirties than I did when I was younger, and one of those effects is what it does to my sleep. Way back when, I’d be conked out for the duration of the night after drinking. Now, though, I tend to wake up periodically even if I’d only had a glass or two of wine with dinner. And I still find myself waking up at 7.30am, regardless of how little sleep I’ve acquired.

“Our circadian rhythms also become more ingrained as we get older, which makes it harder to shift our regular sleep patterns,” says Rångtell. “This can mean we have trouble sleeping in even after a late night. Additionally, older people often experience lighter and more fragmented sleep, making it harder to sleep in.”

One thing that needs to be challenged is the perception that sleeping in means laziness – and not just because it could be staving off heart disease. “This is particularly pervasive in cultures that value rising early and productivity,” adds Rångtell. “It’s important to recognise that sleep patterns and needs are different for everyone and are influenced by a myriad of factors including age, health, and general lifestyle. Sleeping in isn’t inherently lazy, but is often a natural expression of our overall health and our body’s personal sleep requirements.”

In short, if you find yourself able to sleep in, embrace it. Your body clearly needs it and it might even help you avoid a few serious illnesses. I’d do it regularly if I could.