Hurrah, lie-ins may be good for us – if only I can convince my five-year-old daughter | Arwa Mahdawi

CEOs may like to get up at the crack of dawn and go for a run, but I prefer optimising my life with lie-ins, trashy films, swearing and coffee This evening I’m going to tuck my five-year-old into bed and read her a chapter from one of her princess books, followed by a summary of research recently presented at the annual congress of the European Society of Cardiology.

Once upon a time, I’ll tell her, there was a scientist called Dr Nawon Lee who authored a study that found having a weekend lie-in may be very good for you and can protect against high blood pressure. Our accomplished protagonist Dr Lee said: “People should not feel lazy or guilty for sleeping a little longer on the weekend. ” And the moral of this story, dear child, is that you should try not to wake your mothers up at 6am every day. Unfortunately, I’m not sure that all the peer-reviewed science in the world will convince my early riser to have a weekend lie-in. Still, as a big fan of sleep and someone who has never once felt guilty for hitting the snooze button, I have to…