Weird reason the Bank Holiday is better for your health than a normal weekend

Obviously, having an extra day off over the August Bank Holiday is great.

Having three whole days to ourselves and getting to enjoy a lie-in on a Monday morning is a novelty.

But these aren’t the only reasons you should be making the most of the three day weekend.

Recent studies suggest that having only two days off a week actually affects us in a negative way – and it’s all to do with our body clock.

Lots of us spend our weekends catching up on the sleep we miss out on during the week – which is understandable.

However this apparently disrupts our circadian rhythm – our internal body clock – and the Sun reports that it takes two sleeps for our bodies to adjust. So this is the reason we’re all tired come Monday morning, as we’ve got used to sleeping in.

Scientists say this kind of "poor sleep hygiene" and changes to your body clock can result in ill-health , putting us at risk of severe depression and other mood disorders.

Some people argue that the obvious solution to our disrupted circadian rhythm is to have an extra day off, which evidence shows could actually make us to be more productive at work.

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A company in New Zealand trialled a three day weekend with staff without changing their pay – and the results were overwhelmingly positive.

Perpetual Guardian gave their 240 staff an extra day off and after two months noted stress among the workforce had decreased and employees felt more positive.

In fact, Andrew Barnes, the company’s managing director said to the New Zealand Herald that there was "no drop in productivity" during the trial as employees managed to get the same amount of work done in fewer days.

Sadly, there’s no sign of this being introduced in the UK. But make the most of your extra day off and you’ll probably find yourself feeling much more awake tomorrow.

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