Teenagers and young adults who sleep longer on weekends than on weekdays were less likely to report feeling sad or depressed every day, according to a U.S. study that analyzed National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data from 2021 to 2023.
New research suggests that “catch-up” sleep on weekends may be associated with fewer depressive symptoms among older teenagers and young adults in the United States.
The study, published in the Journal of Affective Disorders, analyzed a nationally representative sample of 1,087 participants ages 16 to 24 from the 2021–2023 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Participants reported their usual bedtimes and wake times on weekdays and weekends. Researchers defined weekend catch-up sleep as the difference between average weekend and weekday sleep duration.
According to the analysis, participants who slept longer on weekends than on weekdays had 41% lower odds of reporting that they felt “sad or depressed” every day, compared with those who did not report weekend catch-up sleep.
Melynda Casement, a licensed psychologist and an associate professor in the University of Oregon’s College of Arts and Sciences, said the findings reflect how difficult it can be for many adolescents to maintain a consistent sleep schedule. “Sleep researchers and clinicians have long recommended that adolescents get eight to 10 hours of sleep at a regular time every day of the week, but that's just not practical for a lot of adolescents, or people generally,” she said.
Jason Carbone of State University of New York Upstate Medical University co-authored the paper with Casement. The researchers said their work adds U.S. evidence to a research area that has often focused on populations outside the United States, including studies in China and South Korea.
The authors also pointed to biological changes in circadian rhythm during adolescence that can shift sleep later into the night. Casement described this pattern as a normal developmental shift that can collide with early school schedules. “It's normal for teens to be night owls, so let them catch up on sleep on weekends if they can't get enough sleep during the week because that's likely to be somewhat protective,” she said.
The researchers emphasized that the ideal remains consistent, sufficient sleep across the week. They also noted that more research is needed to clarify how weekend recovery sleep compares with maintaining stable sleep duration and timing throughout both weekdays and weekends. Separately, sleep experts have long argued that later school start times could better match adolescent biology, potentially reducing the sleep debt that many students accumulate during the school week.
Casement also noted that depression is among the leading causes of disability in people ages 16 to 24, describing disability broadly as disruptions to daily functioning such as missing work, arriving late, or struggling to keep up with responsibilities.
