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. 2025 May 14;29(2):184.
doi: 10.1007/s11325-025-03349-5.

The association between weekend catch-up sleep and the reduction of obesity and overweight risk in adolescents with insufficient weekday sleep

Mee-Ri Lee  1 , Young Hwangbo  1 , Jee Hyun Kim  2 , Kwang Ik Yang  3   4 , Seung Bong Hong  5
Affiliations

The association between weekend catch-up sleep and the reduction of obesity and overweight risk in adolescents with insufficient weekday sleep

Mee-Ri Lee et al. Sleep Breath. .

Abstract

Purpose: This study investigates the association between weekend catch-up sleep (CUS) and overweight/obesity in Korean adolescents, focusing on weekday sleep sufficiency.

Methods: A nationwide cross-sectional study was conducted among 12,434 high school students in South Korea. Sleep patterns including total sleep duration and weekend CUS were assessed using self-reported questionnaires. Body mass index (BMI) was calculated and categorized into overweight/obese and normal weight groups based on age- and sex-adjusted Z-scores. Logistic and linear regression models were used to assess the associations between sleep variables and overweight/obesity.

Results: Students with 3 or more h of CUS had lower odds of being overweight/obesity (odds ratio = 0.67, 95% confidence interval: 0.57-0.80) compared to those with non-CUS. This protective effect remained significant in the subgroup with perceived insufficient weekday sleep. Furthermore, students with 3 or more h of CUS had significantly lower BMI z-scores (β = -0.18, p < 0.001), an association that was also observed in those with perceived insufficient sleep (β = -0.16, p = 0.003). The analysis showed a dose-dependent pattern, with greater weekend CUS being associated with a stepwise reduction in BMI z-scores.

Conclusions: Weekend CUS may serve as an important compensatory mechanism for adolescents to reduce the risk of being overweight or obese. However, no additional benefits of CUS were observed in adolescents with sufficient sleep quality.

Keywords: Adolescent; Insufficient weekday sleep; Obesity; Overweight; Weekend catch-up sleep.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Institutional Review Board Statement: All participants provided written informed consent before enrollment. This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of Samsung Medical Center (Seoul, South Korea; IRB No. 2011-09-003) and adhered to all tenets of the Declaration of Helsinki. Conflict of interest: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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