Yes, yes – we know that most sleep experts suggest the best way to maintain a healthy body clock is to stick to a routine, whatever day of the week it might be. But in good news from the European Society of Cardiology, we might be able to sneak in a weekend lie-in without guilt, after all.

According to a paper presented at the society’s recent conference in Munich, a moderate weekend lie-in could protect against hypertension (high blood pressure). While other ways of keeping your high blood pressure in check remain crucial – such as staying active, maintaining a healthy weight and eating a healthy diet low in salt – the study suggests people should no longer feel bad about getting up late at the weekend: within reason.

After studying 40,000 patients over seven years, scientists from South Korea declared the ‘sweet spot’ to be a very precise hour and 27 minutes. ‘Not getting enough sleep puts extra stress on the body,’ says Dr Nawon Lee of Korea University in Seoul, lead author of the study. ‘It keeps the heart and blood vessels working harder and can increase blood pressure.’

Getting some extra sleep at the weekend, on the other hand, may give the body a chance to recover and reduce some of that stress. ‘People should not feel lazy or guilty for sleeping a little longer on the weekend,’ says Dr Lee. ‘If they have not been able to get enough sleep during the week, some extra sleep on the weekend may simply be the body’s way of recovering from that sleep loss.’

person lying in bed holding glasses and covering face with pillow.
Isabella Fischer/Unsplash

Overall, weekend catch-up sleep was associated with a 6% reduction in the odds of hypertension, with the 1hr 27min benchmark giving the ideal amount of catch-up sleep, resulting in a 9% fall.

However, Dr Lee and the team were keen to insist that this isn’t carte blanche to spend all weekend luxuriating under the sheets. Getting too much sleep can, in fact, be harmful – and the same study revealed that racking up more than four hours’ extra sleep at the weekend were at greater risk of hypertension.

‘The message is that moderate weekend catch-up sleep may have a protective effect because, in people who are sleep-deprived during the week, the benefit of compensating for insufficient sleep may outweigh the potential harm from having an irregular sleep schedule,’ says Dr Lee.