By Aaron Bunch in Perth

Late nights, drinking alcohol and smoking on weekends could be triggering a concerning sleep health phenomenon called social apnea, researchers say.

Social apnea is a recently identified trend in sleep medicine referring to a weekend spike in obstructive sleep apnea severity.

It’s driven by lifestyle choices and irregular sleep patterns.

It’s the first evidence that the symptoms of obstructive sleep apnea increase on weekends, Flinders University researchers say.

Increased alcohol consumption, smoking and irregular sleep patterns could be causing the increase in symptoms, biotechnologist Lucia Pinilla told AAP.

“People usually engage with longer and later sleeps over weekends, which can increase the time that they spend in the (rapid eye movement sleep) phase, which is also associated with worsening sleep apnea,” she said.

Decreased use of obstructive sleep apnea treatments may also be a cause.

“Sleep apnea is already a major public health issue but our findings suggest its true impact may be underestimated,” Dr Pinilla said.

“We chose to coin it as social apnea because of the social component we think plays a key role in this relationship.”

Researchers analysed data from more than 70,000 people worldwide.

Study participants were 18 per cent more likely to have moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea on weekends compared to mid-week.

Men were 21 per cent more likely to be affected, compared to a nine per cent increase in women.

Younger adults had a 24 per cent higher risk on weekends, compared to seven per cent in those aged 60 and above.

The weekend surge in sleep-disordered breathing could also increase the risk of serious health conditions, including heart disease, depression, dementia, and extreme fatigue and motor vehicle and other accidents.

The study was published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

Obstructive sleep apnea is the most common sleep-related breathing disorder, affecting about one billion people globally.

People with obstructive sleep apnea repeatedly stop and start breathing while they sleep.