Random musings: How Much Can I Sleep In On The Weekend?

Today's post is based on a blog post by Dr. Michael Breus:

This only further proves my point that consistent total sleep time (and clock time, remember you want your circadian rhythms to be working well) is the best for your overall health. I was also interested in what happened to sleep in people over age 65, but unfortunately there was no data on that.

The results are clear: If you stay in bed on the weekends for two hours longer than usual, you’re far more likely to be grouchy, fat and sick. If you stay in bed for less than an hour on the weekends, though, you’re statistically safe from suffering the ill effects. With that in mind, here are each chronotype’s recommended workday wake times, from my book The Power of When, plus an extra forty-five minutes.

You may remember my blog post on the different chronotypes...if not you can check it out here. Dr. Breus then specified what time each chronotype should wake up on the weekends:

Dolphins: Non-work mornings until 7:15 am.
Lions: Non-work mornings until 6:45 am.
Bears: Non-work mornings until 8:00 am.
Wolves: Non-working mornings until 8:15 am.

If you don't know your chronotype, you can take the quiz here.

Also in the same blog post from Dr. Breus:

A new Recipe called Moon Milk! Of all places BonAppetite did a really nice spread on sleep and one of the things I liked most was this new recipe called moon milk:

INGREDIENTS

1 cup whole milk or unsweetened nut milk (such as hemp, almond, or cashew)

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground turmeric

¼ teaspoon ground ashwagandha (or another adaptogen, like shatavari or astralagus)

2 pinches of ground cardamom

Pinch of ground ginger (optional)

Pinch of ground nutmeg

Freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon virgin coconut oil or ghee

1 teaspoon honey, preferably raw

RECIPE PREPARATION

Bring milk to a simmer in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Whisk in cinnamon, turmeric, ashwagandha, cardamom, ginger, if using, and nutmeg; season with pepper. Whisk vigorously to incorporate any clumps. Add coconut oil, reduce heat to low, and continue to cook until warmed through, 5–10 minutes (the longer you go, the stronger the medicine). Remove from heat and let cool slightly. Stir in honey (you want to avoid cooking honey or you’ll destroy its healing goodness). Pour into a mug, drink warm, and climb right into bed.
There are several reasons why this may be helpful: