• In the video: Tip from the expert: For the perfect power nap, set your alarm clock for 26 minutes

According to a recent YouGov survey commissioned by the company Doctolib, more than one in two Germans have sleep problems. Accordingly, 63 percent of the 1,447 respondents complained about difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep as well as early awakening in the last 12 months. Women are affected slightly more often than men (67 vs. 58 percent).

Permanent lack of sleep is extremely harmful to the heart: high blood pressure, heart failure or even heart attacks are possible consequences.

Link between naps and heart disease

In a 2024 study, researchers discovered how the risk of cardiovascular diseases caused by lack of sleep can be reduced. The answer will please many: by taking naps on the weekend.

“Adequate compensatory sleep is associated with a lower risk of heart disease,” said second author Yanjung Song from the National Center for Cardiovascular Diseases in Beijing at the presentation of the study Research results at a congress of the European Society of Cardiology.

Accordingly, a weekend nap can reduce the risk by 20 percent. “This connection is even more pronounced in people who regularly get too little sleep on weekdays,” says Song.

Compensatory sleep reduces the risk of heart disease by 20 percent

To determine the connection between compensatory sleep on the weekend and heart disease, the researchers examined data from around 90,000 people from a large database. They had previously stated how many hours they sleep per week. Depending on how much sleep the test subjects were able to catch up on during the week, the scientists divided them into four groups of approximately equal size.

They defined a sleep duration of less than seven hours per night as a sleep deficit. This applied to 19,816 of the study participants, i.e. almost 22 percent. Other test subjects also occasionally reported inadequate sleep, but they did not show a sleep deficit according to the definition.

Meanwhile, to diagnose various heart diseases, such as coronary heart disease, heart failure, atrial fibrillation and stroke, the scientists used information on hospital stays and – in the case of test subjects who have since died – the cause of death.

Weekend naps are scientifically a good idea

In the follow-up period of almost 14 years it finally became clear:

The people who got the most compensatory sleep had a 19 percent lower risk of cardiovascular disease than those who were able to compensate for the least sleep. In the subgroup of subjects with daily sleep deprivation, the people who were able to catch up on the most sleep even had a 20 percent lower risk. The researchers were unable to find a difference between the sexes.

“Our results show that for a significant proportion of the population in modern society who suffer from sleep deprivation, those who get the most catch-up sleep on weekends are significantly less likely to develop heart disease than those who catch up the least,” said Zechen Liu, also from the National Center for Cardiovascular Diseases in Beijing.

The “Simple Seven”: How to keep your heart healthy for a long time

You can improve your heart health by taking the following steps:

1. Stop smoking
2. Eat healthier
3. Be physically active
4. Lose weight if you are overweight
5. Keep an eye on your blood pressure
6. Check and, if necessary, reduce your cholesterol levels
7. Check and, if necessary, reduce your blood sugar