Napping and weekend catchup sleep do not fully compensate for high rates of sleep debt and short sleep at a population level (in a representative nationwide sample of 12,637 adults)

Short total sleep time (TST 60 min, severe > 90 min); and (4) sleep restriction (weekend TST – workday TST = 1–2 h, severe > 2 h). Average TST/24 h was 6h42 (± 3 min) on weekdays and 7h26 (± 3 min) during weekends. In addition, 35.9% (± 1.0%) of the subjects were short sleepers, 27.7% (± 1.0%) had sleep debt (18.8% (± 0.9%) severe), and 17.4% (± 0.9%) showed sleep restriction (14.4% (± 0.8%) severe). Moreover, 27.4% (± 0.9%) napped at least once per week on weekdays (average: 8.3 min (± 0.5 min)) and 32.2% (± 1.0%) on weekend days (13.7 min (± 0.7 min)). Of the 24.2% (± 0.9%) of subjects with severe sleep debt (> 90 min), only 18.2% (± 1.6%) balanced their sleep debt by catching up on sleep on weekends (14.9% (± 0.8%) of men and 21.5% (± 0.9%) of women), and 7.4% (± 1.2%) of these subjects balanced their sleep debt by napping (7.8% (± 0.5%) of men and 6.6% (± 0.4%) of women). The remaining 75.8% (± 5.4%) did not do anything to balance their severe sleep debt during the week. Short sleep, sleep debt, and sleep restriction during weekdays affected about one third of adults in our study group. Napping and weekend catch-up sleep only compensated for severe sleep debt in one in four subjects. Napping and weekend catch-up sleep (recovery) among the total group, subjects with sleep debt (>60 min) and severe sleep debt (>90 min). Among the total group of adults, 46.1% caught up on sleep on weekends and 24.7% used napping, while 8.5% employed both strategies. Among the 35.1% of su