Dr. Raj Dasgupta, who also was not involved in the study, agreed with Walia. While he praised the results because it encourages people to get more sleep, he warned that the findings may only apply to young, health men.

“You cannot infer what could be happening with the female population,” said the assistant professor of clinical medicine at Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California and a fellow of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

He also said that it would be valuable to study the effects of make-up sleep in a larger population and overweight people, who are at greater risk for diabetes. And, it fails to look at how make-up sleep improves the cognitive deficits, such as confusion, irritability, and memory problems, related to sleep deprivation.

But overall, Dasgupta applauded the study.

“Any study that wants to encourage people to get more sleep … is a good study.”

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