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Getting a good night's sleep is crucial for maintaining both physical and mental health, alongside a balanced diet and regular exercise. Chronic sleep deprivation has been linked to an increased risk of serious conditions like diabetes and heart disease. So, if you're sleep deprived during weekdays, try to make up for it by getting extra sleep on weekends. A new study has revealed catching up with compensatory sleep on weekends can significantly reduce the risk of heart disease. The study conducted by the National Centre for Cardiovascular Disease in Beijing, China, found that individuals who catch up on sleep over the weekend may lower their risk of heart disease by one-fifth. Study co-author Yanjun Song from the State Key Laboratory of Infectious Disease at Fuwai Hospital emphasised that the benefit of compensatory sleep was even more pronounced among individuals who regularly experience inadequate sleep on weekdays. The researchers used data from 90,903 subjects involved in the UK Biobank project to evaluate the relationship between compensated weekend sleep and heart disease. More than 21 per cent of the participants were identified as sleep-deprived - defined as getting less than seven hours of sleep per night.

The Guild of Healthcare Pharmacists (GHP) has launched a national campaign advocating for pharmacists working in the NHS to have a minimum of 10% of their contracted hours protected for supporting professional activities (SPA). In a statement published on 7 February 2025, the GHP emphasised that this protected time "should be recognized by employers and embedded in job plans." The organisation highlighted the existing inconsistency across the UK regarding the amount of SPA time allocated to pharmacists and stressed the need for a consistent amount of development to "allow pharmacists to be able to be safe practitioners, to meet the demands of service development, and to be able to safely mentor and supervise more junior colleagues." The GHP raised concerns that many pharmacists end up doing "unpaid work" to catch up with the required training or completing self-learning in their own time. "This pressure is unfair and unsustainable, potentially contributing to burnout and in combination with all the other pressures, leads to pharmacists leaving the NHS," it stated. The GHP asserted that a minimum of 10% of contracted hours for SPA is "a strongly justifiable argument."