This myth is false!


The idea that you can simply catch up on sleep is tempting, but it doesn’t hold up to scientific scrutiny. Historically, people living in the wild often had to sleep intermittently or not at all, which allowed them to adapt to sleep deprivation in the short term (1). However, our ancestors lived under different conditions and died significantly earlier. From today’s perspective, research shows that lost sleep cannot be fully made up. Deficits caused by sleep deprivation, such as impaired cognitive performance and a weakened immune system, persist and cannot be retroactively compensated for (2).


Some compensation is possible, however: A more restful night’s sleep or a nap can improve sleep quality in the short term. Studies also suggest that sleeping longer on the weekend could partially mitigate the effects of a busy workweek (3). Nevertheless, it remains unclear whether sleep deficits can actually be fully compensated for. “Catching up on sleep” in advance to avoid future sleep deprivation is also ineffective (1). 


Rest periods while awake, which some people use as a substitute for sleep, may have a restorative effect in the short term, but they do not replace either mental regeneration or the physiological processes that take place during sleep. Deep sleep, in particular, is essential for the brain’s recovery (4). Therefore, one thing remains clear: sleep is unique and indispensable—it cannot be made up for or replaced.

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Sources:

  1. Weeß HG. Sleep Works Wonders: Everything about the most important third of our lives. Now available as a paperback: the three-week program for good sleep: Droemer eBook; 2018.
  2. Walker M. The Big Book of Sleep: The Enormous Importance of Sleep - Best Prevention Against Alzheimer's, Cancer, Heart Attack and Much More: Goldmann Verlag; 2018.
  3. Akerstedt T, Ghilotti F, Grotta A, Zhao H, Adami HO, Trolle-Lagerros Y, et al. Sleep duration and mortality - Does weekend sleep matter? J Sleep Res. 2019;28(1):e12712.
  4. Nissen C, Piosczyk H, Holz J, Maier JG, Frase L, Sterr A, et al. Sleep is more than rest for plasticity in the human cortex. Sleep. 2021;44(3).