How To Beat Monday-itis
October 18th 2006 02:30
How To Beat Monday-itis
We all hate Mondays. Getting up early, having to forget about the weekend and shudder at the thought of another 5 days work. It really is a pain. The weekend is such a great time to catch up on sleep you sorely missed throughout the week – waking up at 10am on a Saturday morning is a great, relaxing way to kick off your weekend. But now scientists are telling us that these much appreciated sleep-ins are just making matters worse for the week ahead.
An article in the SMH has informed that sleeping in on Saturdays and Sundays disrupts your internal body clock by 45 minutes. Making you more tired and groggy on a Monday morning.
Sleep expert Leon Lack at Flinders University has said that aiming to catch up on sleep by sleeping extra on the weekend can change your Sunday night bedtime and set you up for Mondayitis.
Leon’s research team tested the theory by tracking 16 people over a weekend. He asked them to go to bed a little later than they would on a weeknight but sleeping-in an extra two hours. By comparing saliva samples and hormone tests he found participants' body clocks had been delayed by 45 minutes. Questionnaires completed on Monday and Tuesday said they were more fatigued compared with pre sleep-in days.
This 45 minutes isn’t much but it causes us to be less tired on a Sunday night, and be groggy on the Monday morning. The body’s circadian rhythms (or body clock) are disturbed, and causes a sleepiness like jet lag.
Professor Lack says "These days, we're pushing ourselves a lot, particularly during the week and the weekend is our only refuge,"
The problem is though, that this comes at a price.
Image part of Public Domain
We all hate Mondays. Getting up early, having to forget about the weekend and shudder at the thought of another 5 days work. It really is a pain. The weekend is such a great time to catch up on sleep you sorely missed throughout the week – waking up at 10am on a Saturday morning is a great, relaxing way to kick off your weekend. But now scientists are telling us that these much appreciated sleep-ins are just making matters worse for the week ahead.
An article in the SMH has informed that sleeping in on Saturdays and Sundays disrupts your internal body clock by 45 minutes. Making you more tired and groggy on a Monday morning.
Sleep expert Leon Lack at Flinders University has said that aiming to catch up on sleep by sleeping extra on the weekend can change your Sunday night bedtime and set you up for Mondayitis.
Leon’s research team tested the theory by tracking 16 people over a weekend. He asked them to go to bed a little later than they would on a weeknight but sleeping-in an extra two hours. By comparing saliva samples and hormone tests he found participants' body clocks had been delayed by 45 minutes. Questionnaires completed on Monday and Tuesday said they were more fatigued compared with pre sleep-in days.
This 45 minutes isn’t much but it causes us to be less tired on a Sunday night, and be groggy on the Monday morning. The body’s circadian rhythms (or body clock) are disturbed, and causes a sleepiness like jet lag.
The problem is though, that this comes at a price.
Image part of Public Domain
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