Weekend Catch-Up Sleep Tied to Fewer Depressive Symptoms in Teens

TUESDAY, Jan. 13, 2026 (HealthDay News) — Weekend catch-up sleep (WCS) may reduce the incidence of daily depressive symptoms in late adolescents and young adults, according to a study published in the February issue of the Journal of Affective Disorders.

Jason T. Carbone, Ph.D., from the SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, New York, and Melynda D. Casement, Ph.D., from University of Oregon in Eugene, evaluated whether WCS can reduce depressive symptoms in late adolescents and young adults. The analysis included 1,087 participants (aged 16 to 24 years) in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2021 to 2023).

The researchers found that participants with WCS had 41 percent lower odds of daily depressive symptoms versus those without WCS. Results were similar from causal inference and traditional multivariate regression models. A twofold greater benefit on depressive symptoms was seen for both healthy weekday sleep duration and an optimal time.

“Sleep researchers and clinicians have long recommended that adolescents get eight to 10 hours of sleep at a regular time every day of the week, but that’s just not practical for a lot of adolescents, or people generally,” Casement said in a statement. “It”s normal for teens to be night owls, so let them catch up on sleep on weekends if they can”t get enough sleep during the week because that”s likely to be somewhat protective.”

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