Sleeping longer on weekends helps maintain the mental health of teenagers.

An American study revealed that allowing teenagers and young adults to sleep longer on weekends to compensate for the stress of the school or work week helps maintain their mental health and reduces the likelihood of them developing depression.

The study, conducted by a research team from the University of Oregon in the United States, found that teenagers and young adults aged between 16 and 24 who sleep longer on weekends have a 41% lower chance of developing certain mental illnesses such as depression.

“Sleep specialists and doctors always advise that teenagers should get between 8 and 10 hours of sleep regularly throughout the week, but this recommendation is not always practical for many teenagers or people in general,” says Melinda Kasman, a psychiatrist at Oregon State University.

Kasman added in statements reported by the science research website “SciTech Daily”: “It is natural for teenagers to stay up late, so let them make up for lost sleep on weekends, because that is beneficial and protective for them.”

The study, published in the Journal of Affective Disorders, was based on data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey in the United States, which was conducted between 2021 and 2023. It included measuring the regular sleep patterns of adolescents on weekdays and weekends, while monitoring their psychological and emotional state and the appearance of any symptoms of depression.

Kasman stated that depression is considered one of the main causes of disability among the age group between 16 and 24 years old, and disability in this context means difficulty in performing daily tasks, such as not going to work or being late for work and difficulty in fulfilling the responsibility assigned to the person.