Key takeaways:
- Researchers suspect alcohol use, lighter sleep, and other weekend-related lifestyle factors contribute to the newly identified “social apnea” phenomenon, that is, when OSA severity spikes on the weekend.
- Seasonal OSA fluctuations (8–19% worse in summer and winter) may share similar drivers, such as lighter sleep stages in hot weather and more REM sleep in winter.
- The study’s findings support the need for multi-night sleep studies, as single-night tests—often done on weekdays—may underestimate OSA severity.
A newly published study analyzed data from about 70,000 global users of the Withings Sleep Analyzer/Sleep Rx under-mattress sensor between January 2020 and September 2023.
It found that late nights, irregular sleep schedules, alcohol, smoking, and other weekend-related lifestyle factors could be triggering “social apnea”—what the Flinders University researchers dubbed the spike in obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) severity seen on weekends.
The research found a consistent and significant increase in OSA severity on weekends. Participants were 18% more likely to have moderate to severe OSA on Saturdays when compared to Wednesdays.
“Sleep apnea is already a major public health issue, but our findings suggest its true impact may be underestimated,” says lead author and research fellow Lucia Pinilla, PhD, from FHMRI Sleep Health, in a release. “Most clinical diagnostic testing is done on a single night, typically a weeknight, missing the weekend effect we’re now calling social apnea.”
Lifestyle Factors Linked to ‘Social Apnea’
Sleeping an extra 45 minutes or more on weekends was linked to an increased risk of worse sleep apnea by 47%. Men were 21% more likely to be affected, compared to a 9% increase in women.
Being younger (under 60) was also linked to a 24% higher risk on weekends, compared to 7% in those aged 60 and above.
“We don’t yet know exactly why [OSA severity increases over the weekend], but alcohol use, lighter sleep, and less consistent use of OSA therapies likely play a role,” says senior author Danny Eckert, PhD, director of FHMRI Sleep Health, in a release.
Links to Seasonal OSA Changes
Bastien Lechat, PhD, who was not involved in the study, says similar mechanisms may drive seasonal variability in OSA severity.
“OSA tends to be worse during summer and winter, with severity increasing by 8 to 19% compared to spring and autumn,” says Lechat, who recently co-authored a paper on seasonal changes in OSA. “This seasonal spike is partly explained by higher temperatures, which disrupt sleep and lead to lighter sleep stages, which is associated with worse OSA. In winter, longer sleep and later wake-up times, increase time spent in REM sleep, which is also linked to more frequent apnea events.”
Eckert says that these findings align with the concept of “social apnea” and highlight the need for multi-night sleep assessments and more personalized approaches to diagnosis and treatment.
“Relying on a single-night sleep study may miss important variations, leading to underdiagnosis or misclassification of OSA severity,” Eckert says.
