Weekend Sleep Recovery (WSR), defined as a weekend-to-weekday sleep duration ratio greater than 1, was associated with a reduced risk of coronary artery disease and myocardial infarction (OR = 0.79, 95% CI: 0.67-0.93, p = 0.005) in a cross-sectional analysis of 14,335 NHANES participants.
Weekend Sleep Recovery (WSR) was associated with a significantly reduced risk of CAD and MI in the overall study population.
The protective effect of WSR was particularly pronounced among participants with 5-6 hours of weekday sleep.
The protective association of WSR with CAD/MI varied significantly across demographic and clinical subgroups.
The study sample had a mean age of 43.9 years with prevalence rates of 4.83% for CAD and 4.46% for MI.
The study introduced the Sleep Duration Ratio (SDR) as a novel parameter to quantify weekend sleep compensation.
This research suggests that people who sleep longer on weekends than on weekdays — a practice called Weekend Sleep Recovery (WSR) — may have a lower risk of coronary artery disease (CAD) and heart attacks (myocardial infarction, or MI). Using data from over 14,000 Americans surveyed between 2017 and 2023, the researchers created a simple measure called the Sleep Duration Ratio (SDR), which compares how much a person sleeps on weekends versus weekdays. People who slept more on weekends than weekdays (about 65% of participants) had roughly 21% lower odds of having CAD or MI compared to those who did not, even after accounting for factors like age, sex, and other health conditions. The protective association was not the same for everyone. It was strongest among people who got only 5-6 hours of sleep on weekdays, suggesting that weekend recovery sleep may matter most when weekday sleep is notably short. Certain groups — including older adults, White individuals, people with diabetes or high blood pressure, smokers, and those with obesity — showed a significant protective association, while the benefit was not statistically significant in Black individuals, non-smokers, or people without obesity. This research suggests that compensating for lost weekday sleep by sleeping more on weekends could be associated with better heart health, particularly for those who are chronically under-sleeping during the week. However, because this was a cross-sectional study (meaning it measured everything at one point in time), it cannot prove that weekend sleep recovery directly causes reduced heart disease risk. The authors call for further research, including studies that follow people over time, to better understand how sleep patterns influence cardiovascular health across different populations.
Kulthamrongsri N, Sripusanapan A, Suenghataiporn T, Siramongkholkarn S, Danpanichkul P, Mohpichai N, et al.. (2026). Sleep duration Ratio, a novel parameter associated with a reduced risks of coronary artery disease and myocardial infarction: findings from NHANES 2017-2023.. Acta cardiologica. https://doi.org/10.1080/00015385.2025.2601924