OBJECTIVE

Our objective was to investigate if weekend catch-up sleep is independently related to a decrease in the risk for hypertension in Korean adults.

METHODS

The subjects included 2782 Korean adults ages 19 years and older. Data on demographic variables, sleep duration (weekday and weekend), and hypertension were obtained using questionnaires. Logistic regression analyses were performed to test the association between hypertension and sleep duration (weekday and weekend catch-up sleep duration); we also adjusted for possible covariates.

RESULTS

After adjustment for confounding variables, we found that individuals who slept less than 6 hours a night had an increased odds ratio (OR) for hypertension (OR, 1.73; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.13-2.64) compared to individuals who slept 7 to <8 hours a night. Furthermore, one hour of weekend catch-up sleep was significantly associated with decreased risk for hypertension (OR, 0.83; 95% CI, 0.72-0.95). There were significant differences for groups with and without subjective sleep insufficiency in the association between weekend catch-up sleep duration and the prevalence of hypertension; in addition, the effect of an extra hour of weekend catch-up sleep per night on hypertension was stronger in those subjects who experienced subjective sleep insufficiency (OR, 0.61; 95% CI, 0.46-0.82).

CONCLUSIONS

Sleeping more on the weekend to compensate for weekday sleep deficit could lower the risk for hypertension in Korean adults, especially in Korean adults who have the subjective symptom of sleep insufficiency.