Throughout the school year, teenagers often struggle to get enough sleep during the school week, with packed schedules, homework, and early start times cutting into their rest.

To make up for lost teen sleep, many try to “catch up” on weekends by sleeping in.

But does this weekend catch-up sleep (WCS) really help their mental health, or could it have unexpected effects?

Teen Sleep Habits and Mental Health

A 2025 study published in Sleep set out to answer this question using objective sleep tracking and mental health assessments.

Researchers followed nearly 2,000 adolescents, using Fitbit devices to measure their sleep patterns over several weeks.

Mental health was assessed using validated questionnaires that screen for symptoms of anxiety and depression.

The team looked at how much extra sleep teens got on weekends compared to weekdays and whether this made a difference in their emotional well being.

The results showed that catching up on sleep—regardless of the amount—did not reliably lead to improvements in mental health symptoms.

Rather, when researchers examined more closely, they found an important nuance: teens who got a moderate amount of extra sleep on the weekend (up to two hours more than their weekday average) had fewer symptoms of anxiety and depression than those who did not catch up at all.

The authors explain, “Moderate WCS (0–2 hours) may protect against internalizing symptoms in adolescents, while excessive WCS appears to have the opposite effect.”

In other words, a modest amount of extra sleep on the weekend may be beneficial, whereas sleeping in too much could actually backfire.

The study also noted that both sleep quality and consistency are important factors.

Teens with irregular sleep schedules or poor sleep quality tended to have more mental health challenges, regardless of how much they slept overall.

These findings highlight the importance of finding a healthy balance with sleep, especially for busy adolescents.

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Adapted from: Kim, S, Carbone, J, Casement, M (2025). “The Sweet Spot of Weekend Catch-Up Sleep: A Protective Factor Against Depressive Symptoms?” Sleep, 48(Supplement_1), A115. https://doi.org/10.1093/sleep/zsaf090.0263