Angela Merkel Ran on 4 Hours and Caught Up at Weekends. A 43,880-Adult Study Partly Backs Her. A 73,513-Adult One Doesn't

It is Saturday, 11am, in a Singapore flat. Your partner has been asleep since midnight, the kids are already on their second cartoon, and you are wondering whether to wake them or let them "catch up" after a week of 1am emails.

The short answer: sleeping in at the weekend is not a scam, but it is not a full refund either. The biggest studies disagree. A Swedish cohort of 43,880 adults found that a longer weekend sleep cancelled the extra death risk tied to short weekday sleep. A UK study of 73,513 adults wearing wrist trackers found no link at all. Where the newer research does agree is on the size of the lie-in: about one to two extra hours, not a whole lost Saturday.

Three numbers to start with:

1. 43,880 Swedish adults followed for 13 years: short weekday sleepers under 65 who slept longer at weekends had no higher mortality than steady sleepers (Åkerstedt and colleagues, Journal of Sleep Research).
2. 73,513 UK adults with accelerometers, followed for about 8 years: weekend catch-up sleep was not linked to mortality or heart disease (Chaput and colleagues, SLEEP, 2024).
3. 0.49: the odds ratio for clinical-level anxiety in 1,867 US teenagers whose weekend sleep ran up to two hours longer than weekdays, compared with teens who slept the same every night (SLEEP, 2026).

What did Angela Merkel actually say about weekend sleep?

The former German chancellor became famous for surviving all-night EU summits. In a 2015 profile, the BBC reported that Merkel once said she had some "camel-like qualities", allowing her to live off reserves and catch up on sleep at weekends, while during the week she was perfectly fine with four hours.

A BBC Future feature from September 2026 points to a survey of nearly 8,000 US adults in which nearly half said they regularly slept in at weekends.

Does sleeping in at the weekend cancel out a short week?

The case for, which relied on self-reported sleep: Torbjörn Åkerstedt and colleagues tracked 43,880 Swedish adults for 13 years through national records. As BBC Future summarised it, adults under 65 who slept five hours or less a night had a 65% greater mortality risk than those sleeping six to seven hours. But short sleepers who slept longer at weekends did not carry that extra risk.

The case against: Jean-Philippe Chaput and colleagues used wrist accelerometers rather than questionnaires on 73,513 UK adults for mortality and 70,518 for heart disease, followed for an average of 8 years. Weekend catch-up sleep was not associated with either outcome, including in people sleeping under six hours on weekdays. The authors wrote that their findings "do not align with previous evidence and recommendations by sleep authorities."

So one large study says the weekend lie-in looks protective, and a larger study with objective tracking says it shows nothing either way. Neither shows that a lie-in causes or prevents anything, because both are observational.

How much catch-up sleep looks best in the newer studies?

The 2026 research keeps landing on a middle zone rather than "more is better".

| Study (year) | People | Weekend extra sleep | Finding | |---|---|---|---| | ABCD Study, SLEEP (2026) | 1,867 US teens, Fitbit-tracked | Up to 2 hours | Lower odds of clinical-level anxiety (OR 0.49); big swings linked to more symptoms | | NHANES stroke analysis, Medicine (2026) | 11,134 US adults | 2 to under 3 hours | Lower odds of reported stroke (OR 0.60) | | Korea Health Panel, BMC Health Services Research (2026) | 12,634 Korean adults | Over 1 to 2 hours | About KRW 1,278,094 lower yearly medical spending than no catch-up | | UK Biobank accelerometers, SLEEP (2024) | 73,513 UK adults | 2 hours or more | No link with mortality (HR 1.17, not significant) |

The teen study found a U shape: both losing sleep at weekends and very large weekend sleep extensions were tied to more anxiety, with the lowest symptoms in the moderate group. BBC Future described the wider pattern as a "sweet spot" of around one to two hours of extra sleep. In the Korean data, the biggest cost differences showed up in adults sleeping seven hours or less on weekdays.

All of these are associations. People who can sleep in may also have less stress, more money or fewer caregiving duties, and the studies try to adjust for that but cannot rule it out.

Why does a whole lost Saturday backfire?

Sleeping until noon pushes your body clock later. That makes Sunday night harder, and Monday's alarm then lands when your body still thinks it is night. The teen data fits this: the kids with the largest weekday to weekend gaps had more anxiety, not less. A lie-in of one to two hours, with a similar wake time, keeps the clock closer to the weekday pattern.

Heat matters too, especially in Singapore. Project HEATS found 150 Singapore residents' bedrooms averaged a muggy 28.4°C at night, as The Straits Times reported in June 2026. A late-morning lie-in in a warming room is rarely deep sleep. If you want the extra hour to count, take it early: go to bed an hour sooner on Friday instead of sleeping until the sun is on the window. A breathable cotton or bamboo sheet, a fan or a cooling blanket can make that earlier start easier on a hot night.

What should you do with your weekend sleep?

• Aim for one to two extra hours, not five. That is the range where the 2026 studies cluster.
• Fix the weekday first. Catch-up sleep is a patch for a short week, not a plan.
• Keep wake time within about two hours of your weekday alarm. Big swings were the pattern linked to worse outcomes in teens.
• Cool the room for the extra hour. Hot sleepers can read how a weighted blanket and cooling fabric compare in our cooling blanket vs weighted blanket guide, and see what a cooling weighted blanket is made of on the specifications page.

If you are tired most days no matter how much you sleep, that is worth raising with a doctor rather than solving with Saturdays.

Merkel's camel plan carried her through some famous all-nighters. For most of us, the evidence points to a smaller camel: one or two extra hours, a cool room, and a Monday that does not start in a fog.

Sources

1. BBC News, 2015. Angela Merkel: German leader's marathon week of diplomacy ("camel-like qualities", four hours on weekdays) - https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-31433992
2. Amanda Ruggeri, BBC Future, Sep 2026. Here's how to catch up on sleep, the right way (nearly 8,000 US adults; 65% greater mortality risk; one to two hour sweet spot) - https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20260911-should-you-try-to-catch-up-on-sleep-at-the-weekend
3. Åkerstedt T et al. Sleep duration and mortality: Does weekend sleep matter? Journal of Sleep Research, 2018 (43,880 adults, 13 years) - https://doi.org/10.1111/jsr.12712
4. Chaput JP et al. Device-measured weekend catch-up sleep, mortality, and cardiovascular disease incidence in adults. SLEEP, 2024 (73,513 and 70,518 adults, 8.0 years) - https://doi.org/10.1093/sleep/zsae135
5. Kim and Casement. The sweet spot of weekend catch-up sleep: U-shaped associations with internalizing symptoms in adolescents from the ABCD Study. SLEEP, 2026 (1,867 teens, OR 0.49) - https://doi.org/10.1093/sleep/zsag113
6. Fei Y, Li X, Li X. Association between weekend catch-up sleep and stroke among US adults: NHANES. Medicine, 2026 (11,134 adults, OR 0.60) - https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC13456880/
7. Association between weekend catch-up sleep and medical expenditure: Korean Health Panel Survey. BMC Health Services Research, Aug 2026 (12,634 adults) - https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12913-026-15216-4
8. Shabana Begum, The Straits Times, Jun 2026. Project HEATS: Singapore bedrooms average 28.4°C at night - https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/environment/whats-the-temperature-in-the-bedroom-in-spore-a-muggy-28-deg-c-says-new-study-on-residents