Men and women who get just six hours of sleep each night during the workweek will need more than the weekend to recover from the cumulative effects of this mild sleep deprivation, a new study revealed. Researchers also found that women are better able to cope with and recover from this kind of sleep loss than men. “The usual practice of extending sleep during the weekend after a busy workweek associated with mild sleep loss is not adequate in reversing the cumulative effects on cognitive function resulting from this mild sleep deprivation,” said the study’s principal investigator Dr. Alexandros N. Vgontzas, professor of psychiatry and endowed chair in sleep disorders medicine at the Penn State College of Medicine, in an American Academy of Sleep Medicine news release.
