Nearly half of US adults aren’t getting the recommended amount of sleep each night, leading some to catch up on their rest over the weekend.
But if you feel guilty about waking up an hour or two later, don’t: New research indicates it can actually have some health benefits.
Snoozing past your alarm on your days off was long thought to be a major health no-no. For one thing, a consistent sleep and wake-up schedule is a key factor in good sleep hygiene, which can protect against things like insomnia and middle-of-the-night wake-ups.
One study from King’s College London also found a link between “social jet lag” — a disruption of the body’s internal clock caused by an irregular sleep schedule — and lower diet quality, which can impact the gut microbiome.
But new research presented at theEuropean Society of Cardiology’s conferencethis weekend offered a counterpoint, finding a healthy upside for those who catch a few extra winks at the end of the work week.
An extra hour and 27 minutes of sleep on weekends could decrease the risk of high blood pressure by up to 9% in adults Brian Jackson – stock.adobe.com
Analysing sleep data of 41,000 adults between 2016 and 2023, the scientists at Korea University said that those who slept in on the weekend were up to 9% less likely to have high blood pressure.
But that doesn’t mean you should stay in bed until the afternoon: The sweet spot, they found, was one hour and 27 minutes.
“Not getting enough sleep puts extra stress on the body. It keeps the heart and blood vessels working harder and can increase blood pressure,” study author Dr. Nawon Lee said.
“Getting some extra sleep on the weekend 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. 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.”
Sleep is essential to heart health, with the American Heart Association adding it to their Life’s Essential 8 checklist for good cardiovascular health.
In addition to smoking, age, diet, exercise and more, sleep deprivation is also a risk factor for hypertension, or high blood pressure, which nearly half of Americans have.
Researchers believe that when we sleep, our blood pressure drops by about 10%, a process called “nocturnal dipping.”
But too much sleep can backfire. The study also revealed that too much additional weekend sleep could be harmful, with more than four extra hours increasing the risk of hypertension.
While those who are making up for sleep deprivation during the week may see benefits, excessive rest may increase “the degree of sleep irregularity and circadian disruption, which could offset that benefit,” according to Lee.
No need to feel guilty for sleeping in on weekends, as new research says the right amount may have health benefits. Andrii Lysenko – stock.adobe.com
Previous researchhad found that regular bedtimes and wake-ups reduced the risk of a stroke, with irregular sleepers 26% more likely to suffer a stroke, heart failure or heart attack.
Those who are sleeping a little longer on their day off shouldn’t feel guilty, though, as they may still reap the benefits, according to researchers.
“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,” Lee said.
Few experiences are more frustrating than lying awake at night while desperately wanting to fall asleep. Your body feels exhausted, but your mind refuses to settle. As the minutes tick by, it's easy to become increasingly anxious about how little sleep you're getting − and how much harder tomorrow is going to be as a result. That growing anxiety can then make it even harder to fall asleep, creating a vicious cycle in which poor sleep fuels even more sleeplessness.
As discouraging as insomnia like this can be, it may be helpful to know you're far from alone. In fact, "insomnia is the most common sleep disorder, with roughly 10% to 15% of adults experiencing chronic insomnia and up to 40% to 50% experiencing occasional symptoms," says Wendy Troxel, a senior behavioural sleep scientist at the RAND Corporation.
Here's what insomnia is, what causes it and how it's typically treated.
Few experiences are more frustrating than lying awake at night while desperately wanting to fall asleep.lakshmiprasad S, Getty Images
What is insomnia?
Insomnia is a sleep disorder "that makes itdifficult to fall asleepor stay asleep throughout the night, wake up too early or get good quality sleep despite having the opportunity to do so," explains Dr. Raj Dasgupta, a pulmonary and sleep specialist at Huntington Memorial Hospital in California.
He explains that the defining feature isn't simply getting too little sleep − it's that those night-time difficulties lead to daytime consequences such as fatigue, trouble concentrating and reduced productivity and performance at school or work.
Over time, "chronic insomnia can also affect mood, memory, focus, energy, relationships and overall health," he adds. "People with chronic insomnia also have a twofold increased risk of depression and an increased risk of cardiovascular disease," Troxel notes.
While "a random bad night of rest is normal for most people," Dasgupta explains, chronic insomnia is generally diagnosed when symptoms occur at least three nights a week for three months or longer. He adds that diagnosis is usually "based on your sleep history, symptoms, medical history and how the sleep problem affects you during the day."
What causes insomnia?
Insomnia rarely has a single cause. Instead, it usually develops from a combination of biological, psychological and lifestyle factors.
Stress is among the most common triggers, Troxel says, whether it's related to work, finances, relationships or major life changes. "Anxiety and depression are also closely linked to insomnia," she adds, with each capable of worsening the other.
Physical conditions such as chronic pain, asthma, acid reflux, neurological disorders, sleep apnoea and thyroid disease can also interfere with healthy sleep. "And perimenopause and menopause are significantly underrecognized triggers in women," Troxel says. She adds that medications such as certain antidepressants, stimulants, decongestants and corticosteroids can sometimes contribute as well.
Lifestyle habits also frequently play a role. For instance, Dasgupta says that consuming caffeine or alcohol too late in the day, keeping an irregular sleep schedule, working overnight shifts, taking frequent naps or spending time on phones and other bright screens before bed can all disrupt the body's natural sleep-wake cycle.
How is insomnia treated?
Regardless of the cause, the most effective long-term treatment for chronic insomnia isn't medication − "it's cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia, or CBT-I," Dasgupta says. CBT-I is a structured program that helps people identify and replace the thoughts and behaviours that interfere with sleep while building healthier sleep habits and routines. It's so effective, in fact, that major sleep organizations usually recommend CBT-I as the first-line treatment because research consistently shows it produces lasting improvements without the risks associated with long-term use of sleep medications.
Why 'good' sleep is about more than just the hours
Other insomnia treatments and recommendations may include improving sleep habits such as maintaining a consistent bedtime and wake time,limiting caffeineand alcohol intake (especially later in the day), exercising regularly (though not immediately before bed), creating a cool, dark, quiet sleep environment and avoiding prolonged screen use before bedtime, Dasgupta notes.
Health care providers may also recommend sleep medications for short-term relief, but these are generally viewed as temporary tools rather than permanent solutions, explains Troxel.
Anyone whose sleep difficulties significantly affect daytime functioning, occur several nights a week for extended periods or are accompanied by unusual night-time behaviours should seek medical evaluation rather than trying to manage the problem alone, advises Troxel.
"And," she adds, "you should also talk to a doctor if you have loud snoring, gasping in the night, restless legs, morning headaches or unexplained mood changes."
The viral “military method” promises sleep in 2 minutes. But does science back it? We break down the technique, its limits, and what actually works
The so-called military method is a relaxation technique widely claimed to help people fall asleep in about two minutes. The popular version reportedly comes from Lloyd “Bud” Winter’s 1981 book Relax and Win: Championship Performance, which described techniques associated with military and athletic performance. The catch is important: there is no strong clinical evidence showing that this exact sequence reliably puts people to sleep in two minutes.
Still, that does not make the technique useless. It simply means the two-minute claim should be treated as a target, not a medical guarantee.
The method works by attacking one of the biggest enemies of sleep: physical and mental arousal. Instead of lying there thinking, Why am I still awake?, you deliberately work through your body and breathing.
Can You Really Fall Asleep in 2 Minutes? The 'Military Method' Put to the Test. tongpatong / Getty Images
How the Technique Actually Works
Get comfortable and progressively relax your body. Start with your face, consciously releasing tension from your forehead, eyelids, jaw and tongue. Drop your shoulders and let your arms become heavy.
Then move downward. Relax your chest, abdomen, thighs, calves and feet. The instruction is not to force your muscles into relaxation, but to stop actively holding tension.
Next comes breathing. Take slow, comfortable breaths and allow your body to settle. Finally, spend roughly 10 seconds visualizing something deliberately boring and peaceful, such as lying in a quiet field or floating somewhere calm.
The underlying logic has more scientific credibility than the two-minute headline. Relaxation techniques can reduce physiological arousal, while slow breathing can help shift attention away from racing thoughts. Cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia, or CBT-I, also uses relaxation and strategies designed to reduce the anxious mental struggle surrounding sleep.
Practice Beats the Stopwatch
Here is where the internet version gets a little too cinematic.
If someone has spent 45 minutes scrolling, checking messages, drinking caffeine late in the evening and then climbs into bed expecting a military breathing trick to override everything, the method is unlikely to perform miracles.
Sleep pressure, circadian timing, caffeine, stress, light exposure and the bedroom environment all influence how easily someone falls asleep. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends behavioural approaches such as CBT-I as first-line treatment for chronic insomnia rather than relying on relaxation tricks alone.
So, use the military method as a wind-down technique, not a guaranteed two-minute knockout. Practice it consistently when you’re already preparing for sleep, keep expectations modest, and avoid turning the stopwatch into another source of stress. If insomnia persists for weeks or is affecting daytime functioning, that is a much better reason to seek professional help than trying increasingly elaborate internet sleep hacks.
If getting a good night’s sleep seems harder than it used to be, you’re not imagining it.
Adults over 50 frequently report getting less sleep — and often find themselves waking earlier, sleeping more lightly, or getting up several times throughout the night.
“While older adults may find it harder to obtain adequate sleep, the biological need for sleep does not significantly decrease as you age,” says Saema Tahir, MD, a board-certified sleep medicine physician and pulmonologist with a private practice in New York City. “Changes in sleep duration and quality are common with age, but should not be considered simply ‘normal’ or ignored — they carry real health consequences.” Poor sleep has been linked to a higher risk of heart disease, cognitive decline, and mental health conditions like depression.
Fortunately, understanding age-related biological changes — including shifts in metabolism, hormones, and the body’s internal clock — can help you take steps to improve your sleep and support healthy aging.
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1. Metabolism Changes Can Interfere With Sleep — Support Both With Healthy Daily Habits
As you age, your metabolism naturally changes. Muscle mass tends to decline, fat distribution shifts, and age-related changes in fat tissue can contribute to insulin resistance, which makes it harder for the body to regulate blood sugar efficiently.
Your metabolism is also closely linked with sleep. Poor or insufficient sleep can disrupt blood sugar regulation, appetite hormones, and other metabolic processes — potentially contributing to insulin resistance and weight gain. In turn, metabolic conditions such as obesity and type 2 diabetes are commonly linked to sleep disorders like obstructive sleep apnoea. Over time, this can create a cycle in which poor sleep contributes to poorer metabolic health, which may further interfere with healthy sleep.
“What I really emphasize is that no hack, pillow, or supplement will fix sleep,” Dr. Tahir says. “Eating your last meal at least three hours before bed, reducing refined carbohydrates and alcohol, and maintaining physical activity all have evidence supporting improved sleep quality through metabolic pathways.”
2. Melatonin Naturally Declines With Age, but You Can Still Strengthen Your Body’s Sleep Signals
Melatonin is a hormone that helps regulate your body’s internal clock by signalling when it’s time to feel sleepy. Its production is closely tied to light exposure, rising in response to darkness to promote sleepiness and falling with morning light to help you wake up.
Beginning around age 40, the body gradually produces less melatonin at night, and the timing of its release may also shift — making it harder to fall and stay asleep.
Rather than relying on melatonin supplements alone, which can interfere with medications and cause daytime drowsiness in older adults, experts recommend strengthening your body’s natural sleep signals through light exposure and daily routines.
“Get bright outdoor light during the day, especially in the morning, and keep your evenings dim and relaxing by reducing bright screens and overhead lights close to bedtime,” says Junxin Li, PhD, RN, an associate professor at Johns Hopkins School of Nursing in Baltimore, who researches the impact of aging on sleep. “A regular sleep-wake schedule, consistent meal timing, and limiting alcohol near bedtime can also support the circadian system.”
3. Addressing Hormonal Changes Can Help Relieve Sleep Issues in Menopause and Beyond
For many women, declining oestrogen, which helps regulate body temperature, and progesterone, which has sleep-promoting effects, can contribute to night sweats, night-time awakenings, and difficulty falling asleep. Mood changes and other menopause-related symptoms can further disrupt sleep. And these sleep issues may persist years after your final menstrual period.
“Often what happens is that hormonal changes and other symptoms, like hot flashes, first cause insomnia to develop during menopause,” says Philip Gehrman, PhD, a professor of clinical psychology in psychiatry at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, and a behavioural sleep medicine research expert who has researched sleep disorders in older adults. “But then the insomnia takes on a life of its own, persisting into the postmenopausal period.”
Dr. Gehrman suggests tailoring sleep strategies to symptoms. For night sweats, consider tactics like keeping your bedroom cool, choosing lightweight bedding and sleepwear, and discussing persistent symptoms with your healthcare provider. Treatments like cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) involve working short-term with a healthcare professional to work on your bedtime routine and other sleep-related behaviours and can help improve sleep over time.
4. If You’re Getting Less Deep Sleep Than You Used to, Focus on Sleep Quality
The structure of your sleep naturally changes with age. Beginning in midlife, adults gradually spend less time in deep, slow-wave sleep — the sleep stage most associated with physical recovery and feeling refreshed — and may wake more often throughout the night.
This shift is thought to stem, in part, from age-related changes in the brain’s sleep-regulating neurons, Tahir explains. Research suggests that aging can weaken the body’s internal clock and its ability to build up the pressure needed to sleep, which contributes to earlier and more fragmented sleep. As a result, even spending enough hours in bed can leave you feeling tired the next day.
Although researchers haven’t identified an evidence-backed way to restore the deep sleep lost with aging, healthy habits can help you get more restorative sleep. Exercise may promote deeper sleep, while limiting alcohol near bedtime and treating sleep disorders can prevent disruptions that fragment sleep.
Many older adults can train their brains for more effective sleep. Gehrman says CBT-I uses behavioural strategies to train the brain to associate the bed with sleep rather than wakefulness and establish a more consistent sleep-wake pattern.
“Cognitive behavioural strategies can help reduce time spent awake — including keeping a regular sleep and wake schedule, winding down before bed, and getting out of bed to do relaxing activities if you’re unable to sleep,” he adds.
5. Cortisol Level Shifts Can Be Managed With Stress Relief Techniques
Cortisol, a main stress hormone, normally follows a daily cycle — dropping at night to promote sleep and rising in the morning to wake you up. For some, this rhythm may become altered during menopause, prompting higher evening cortisol levels that can contribute to difficulty falling asleep or night-time awakenings.
To support a healthy cortisol rhythm for sleep, Li underscores the importance of sticking to a set bedtime and prioritizing stress management in your daily routine.
“A calming wind-down routine before bed — such as slow breathing, meditation, gentle stretching, reading, or other relaxing activities — can help signal safety and reduce night-time alertness,” Li says. “It’s also helpful to avoid stressful work, intense conversations, news, TV shows, or problem-solving right before bed.”
6. Bladder Changes Can Be Mitigated by Tweaking Your Fluid Intake
Getting up to use the bathroom more than once, known as nocturia, is a common reason adults over 50 wake up during the night.
Age-related changes in the bladder and kidneys can increase night-time urine production, making bathroom trips more frequent.
Shifts in hormones that regulate fluid balance, along with medical conditions that are common with age, like an enlarged prostate and obstructive sleep apnoea, can also contribute to nocturia.
“Nocturia is one of the most common causes of sleep fragmentation in this age group,” Tahir says. “Evidence-based strategies include restricting fluids after 6 p.m., reducing caffeine and alcohol intake, treating underlying contributors like prostate or bladder issues, and timing any diuretic medications to the morning rather than evening.”
Melatonin has become the bedtime routine many people barely think about anymore: brush your teeth, plug in your phone, take a gummy, and turn out the lights. Because melatonin is available without a prescription and is naturally produced by the body, it’s easy to assume that taking it nightly is essentially harmless. Yet sleep experts draw an important distinction between occasional short-term use and relying on a supplement indefinitely to treat persistent insomnia. The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health says melatonin appears relatively safe for short-term use, but its long-term safety has not been established.
That uncertainty doesn’t mean nightly melatonin has been proven dangerous; it means researchers don’t yet have enough high-quality evidence to say with confidence what years of routine use may mean for everyone. If taking melatonin every night has become something you do automatically, there are several things worth understanding before tonight’s dose.
Melatonin Isn’t Really a Traditional Sleeping Pill
Melatonin is a hormone your brain naturally produces in response to darkness, helping regulate the body’s circadian timing and sleep-wake cycle. Supplemental melatonin is often used when the problem involves sleep timing, including situations such as jet lag, while research into its effectiveness for shift workers has produced more limited or inconclusive results. NCCIH reports that research suggests melatonin may also modestly improve how quickly some people with insomnia fall asleep and reduce daytime sleepiness. However, a review cited by NCCIH found that it did not improve other important outcomes such as overall sleep quality or the amount of time people remained awake during the night. That means taking melatonin every night may not address the actual reason you’re struggling to sleep.
Sleep Experts Don’t Recommend It as the Go-To Treatment for Chronic Insomnia
This is probably the biggest misconception surrounding nightly melatonin use. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine’s pharmacologic guideline recommends against using melatonin to treat sleep-onset or sleep-maintenance insomnia in adults because the evidence supporting its effectiveness was considered insufficient. That recommendation doesn’t mean melatonin never helps anyone, nor does it mean a clinician will never suggest it for a particular sleep problem. It means chronic insomnia shouldn’t automatically be treated by indefinitely adding an over-the-counter supplement to your nightly routine. If you’ve been taking melatonin every night for months because you cannot sleep without it, persistent insomnia itself deserves attention.
Melatonin may help certain sleep problems, but its long-term safety isn’t fully established. If nightly use has become a months- or years-long habit, consider discussing the dose, medications, and underlying sleep problem with a healthcare professional. Poh Smith/Shutterstock
We Know More About Short-Term Use Than Years of Nightly Use
One of the challenges with melatonin is that widespread availability can create more certainty about long-term safety than the evidence actually supports. NCCIH specifically says short-term use appears relatively safe for most people, while the long-term safety of melatonin supplements has not been established. That’s different from saying researchers have proven that taking it for years is dangerous; rather, the evidence isn’t strong enough to make confident conclusions about prolonged routine use. People sometimes hear “natural” and translate that into “safe at any dose for any length of time,” which isn’t how hormones or supplements work. A person who has used melatonin nightly for years shouldn’t panic, but discussing continued use with a healthcare professional is reasonable.
The Side Effects Can Show Up the Next Day
Melatonin’s potential drawbacks aren’t limited to questions about years of use because some people notice effects much sooner. NCCIH says mild side effects reported in short-term studies have included headache, dizziness, nausea, and sleepiness. Daytime drowsiness deserves particular attention if you’re driving, operating equipment, or already taking medications that can make you sleepy. Older adults may also process melatonin differently; it may remain active longer in older people and contribute to daytime drowsiness. If taking melatonin every night leaves you groggy the following morning, that is worth discussing with a healthcare professional rather than assuming feeling sluggish is simply the price of getting to sleep.
What’s in the Bottle May Not Match What’s on the Label
Another issue has nothing to do with melatonin itself and everything to do with the supplement marketplace. TheFood and Drug Administrationdoes not approve dietary supplements for safety and effectiveness before they reach consumers, placing responsibility on manufacturers to comply with applicable safety and labelling requirements. NCCIH highlights a 2023 analysis of 25 melatonin gummies in which 22 were inaccurately labelled, with measured melatonin ranging from 74% to 347% of the labelled amount among products containing detectable melatonin. FDA researchers have separately analysed supplement products and found wide variation in melatonin content relative to label claims, reinforcing concerns about quality control. Consequently, taking melatonin every night doesn’t necessarily mean you’re consistently consuming exactly the dose printed on the bottle.
Quality-control concerns aren’t limited to one small study. FDA researchers analysing 110 melatonin supplement products marketed for children found measured amounts ranging from zero to 667% of the label claim, further illustrating why consumers should not assume every supplement precisely matches its packaging.
More Melatonin Isn’t Necessarily Better
Melatonin has become a nightly habit for many adults, but sleep experts say long-term safety has not been established and persistent insomnia may warrant a closer look at what is disrupting sleep. Microgen/Shutterstock
Walk through the supplement aisle and you’ll find melatonin products marketed in dramatically different strengths, which can make larger numbers look more powerful. But melatonin isn’t a medication where doubling the dose automatically produces twice the sleep benefit, and taking more can increase the opportunity for unwanted effects without addressing the cause of poor sleep. The uncertainty surrounding supplement content makes casually escalating the dose even less appealing when the amount inside some products may already differ from what’s printed on the package.
Timing matters too because melatonin is involved in signalling the body’s biological night, so taking an arbitrary dose at an arbitrary bedtime isn’t necessarily equivalent to using it strategically for a specific circadian problem. There also isn’t one universally appropriate over-the-counter dose for every adult, making self-escalating from one gummy to several a poor substitute for determining why sleep remains difficult.
Rather than repeatedly increasing the dose because the previous amount “stopped working,” that’s a good point to talk with a physician, pharmacist, or sleep specialist about what’s actually disrupting sleep. Persistent trouble falling asleep, frequent awakenings, or poor daytime functioning can have causes that another gummy won’t solve.
Melatonin Can Matter When You Take Other Medications
Over-the-counter doesn’t mean interaction-free, particularly for older adults taking several prescription medications. NCCIH advises people taking medications to consult their healthcare providers before using melatonin and specifically notes that people taking blood thinners or those with epilepsy should use it under medical supervision. This is especially relevant because supplement use can easily be forgotten when a doctor asks someone to list their “medications.” Bring the bottle or write down the product, dose, and frequency at your next appointment so your clinician or pharmacist knows exactly what you’re taking. If taking melatonin every night is part of your routine, it belongs on your medication-and-supplement list just like everything else.
Your Sleep Problem May Need a Different Treatment
Taking something every night can gradually shift attention from the question that matters most: Why aren’t you sleeping? Chronic insomnia can coexist with medical conditions, medication effects, mood disorders, restless legs, sleep apnoea, irregular schedules, and behavioural patterns that need different approaches. For chronic insomnia, current American Academy of Sleep Medicine guidance strongly recommends cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia, or CBT-I, which combines techniques designed to change sleep-related behaviours and thought patterns.NCCIH’s review of that guidanceidentifies CBT-I as a strongly recommended treatment for adults with chronic insomnia. Someone who has spent months taking melatonin every night without consistently sleeping well may benefit more from evaluating the underlying sleep problem than simply continuing the same routine.
Don’t Panic About Tonight’s Dose
None of this means everyone using melatonin should suddenly throw the bottle away. Melatonin has legitimate uses, short-term use appears relatively safe for most people, and individual circumstances matter when deciding whether it belongs in someone’s sleep routine. The concern is turning an occasional sleep aid into an indefinite nightly treatment without ever asking whether it’s working, whether the dose is appropriate, whether it interacts with other medications, or why insomnia continues. If you’re taking melatonin every night, particularly for months or years, consider reviewing the habit with your doctor or pharmacist rather than automatically increasing the dose or assuming long-term use has been thoroughly studied.
Keeping a simple sleep diary for a week or two (recording when you take melatonin, when you go to bed, approximately how long it takes to fall asleep, night-time awakenings, wake time, and next-day grogginess) can also give a clinician more useful information than simply saying the supplement “works” or “doesn’t work.”
