Why Sleeping in for More Than Two Hours on Weekends May Be Harmful for Teens

"More Than Two Hours Increases Internalizing Symptoms"

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According to Yonhap News, a study has found that it is appropriate for adolescents to have no more than two hours of catch-up sleep on weekends.

According to Yonhap News, on June 11 (local time), Kim Sojeong, a doctoral researcher at the University of Oregon in Eugene, United States, announced at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) SLEEP 2025, held in Darien, Illinois, that her research observing sleep duration and internalizing symptoms such as anxiety in about 1,800 adolescents confirmed this association.

Kim stated, "Teenagers who slept up to two hours longer on weekends than on weekdays had fewer internalizing symptoms such as anxiety and depression compared to those who did not sleep longer on weekends," and added, "When weekend catch-up sleep exceeded two hours, internalizing symptoms were found to increase."

The research team expressed concern that consistently getting enough sleep is associated with improvements in concentration, behavior, learning, memory, emotional regulation, quality of life, and mental and physical health, while sleep deprivation during adolescence is linked to risks such as depression and suicidal thoughts.

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends that adolescents aged 13 to 18 regularly sleep 8 to 10 hours for optimal health. However, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), only 23% of adolescents get enough sleep on weekdays.

In this study, the research team measured the weekday and weekend sleep durations of 1,877 adolescents (average age 13.5 years) using the Fitbit smartwatch and assessed internalizing symptoms with the Child Behavior Checklist (CBL), which evaluates emotional and behavioral problems in children and adolescents.

Participants were divided into three groups: those with no difference in sleep duration between weekdays and weekends, those with 0 to 2 hours of catch-up sleep on weekends, and those with more than 2 hours of catch-up sleep. The results showed that the group with 0 to 2 hours of catch-up sleep had a statistically significant decrease in internalizing symptoms such as anxiety and depression compared to the group with no catch-up sleep.

Additionally, when catch-up sleep exceeded two hours, internalizing symptoms increased slightly as sleep duration increased.

Kim stated, "These results show that both sleeping less on weekends than on weekdays and sleeping significantly longer are associated with higher anxiety symptoms. On the other hand, less than two hours of weekend catch-up sleep is associated with a reduction in anxiety symptoms and may be helpful."

She added, "It is important to identify the amount of weekend catch-up sleep that is beneficial for teenagers who are sleep-restricted during the week. If the variation in sleep duration between weekdays and weekends is too little or too much, it may actually hinder the alleviation of fatigue or physical and mental symptoms."