Whether you really can catch up on sleep over the weekend, according to experts

You jeopardise your memories when you don't sleep enough during the week

This is what happens when you try to catch up on sleep (Stock)

Apart from brunch, weekends are good for catching up on the hours of sleep you’ve missed out on during the week - but whether it is ever possible to truly catch up on sleep is up for debate.

Sleep is a necessary function to keep your brain and body running at optimal performance, while also leading to a longer overall life - however, the average Briton only gets six hours and 19 minutes of sleep a night.

Fortunately, making up for those lost hours of shuteye is doable, according to sleep researchers and psychologists, who discussed the question on The Conversation.

According to Chin Moi Chow, a sleep researcher who responded “Yes,” while it is possible to catch up on sleep, it is not necessarily achievable to catch up “on the exact number of hours lost.”

Unfortunately, this means that memories formed on the days of sleep loss may be compromised - as unstable memories are turned into stable memories during deep sleep but won’t be if the opportunity for deep sleep is lost that night.

Neuroscientist Leonie Kirszenblat also said we are capable of regaining sleep - because of something called “sleep pressure.”

According to Kirszenblat, sleep pressure tells the brain you have not received enough sleep, which can then cause physiological changes.

But as discussed by Chow, Kirszenblat mentioned the impact lack of sleep has on your ability to remember - which will not be remedied by additional hours of dozing over the weekend.

“Sleep also helps to flush out toxic proteins linked to neurodegenerative disorders,” said Kirszenblat.

Siobhan Banks, a sleep researcher, agreed it is possible - but the longer we go without sleep, the more difficult it will become.

However, sleep researcher Gemma Paech and psychologist Melinda Jackson both argued that catching up on sleep isn't as easy as cancelling weekend plans to doze instead.

Paech said that sleep loss can accumulate overtime, affecting our overall health - and sleeping in on weekends may cause more harm as it can affect the “circadian timing system,” the body’s internal clock, leading to “social jet lag.”

Jackson also acknowledged the detrimental impact making up for lost sleep can have on our biological clocks.

“Our sleep-wake cycle is based on a 24-hour rhythm; once we move into the next cycle our biological clocks essentially ‘reset,’” she said.

According to Jackson, our brains have the ability to respond to sleep loss and adjust the intensity of sleep - and trying to do it ourselves is unnecessary.

Interestingly, a recent study conducted by researchers at the Stress Research Institute at Stockholm University found that heightened mortality rates are linked to less hours of sleep - but that additional sleep over the weekend can counteract the negative effects of sleep deprivation during the week.

The study also found that too much sleep, or more than eight hours a night, could be linked to a higher mortality rate.

While it may be possible to cancel out some of the negative side effects of sleep deprivation over the weekend, such as decreased brain function or life expectancy, other areas such as compromised memory will be not be reversed.