Our bodies (and minds) need a certain amount of sleep each night to be at their best. Although you might feel great on Monday after a weekend sleepiest, all that shuteye won’t help your performance the rest of the week.

Here’s why:

Our bodies can only catch up on sleep. They can’t store extra sleep to help us function in the days ahead. If you sleep a lot over the weekend but go back to skimping on Monday night, you won’t be at your best on Tuesday. You may not notice you’re tired, but you won’t be operating at your peak. And if you continue this pattern all week, your body will be seriously dragging by Friday.

How will this affect you? Sleep fuels our daily activities, whether it’s doing well on tests, competing in sports, mastering skateboard tricks, concentrating while driving, or handling stressful situations. That’s why experts recommend that teens get 8–10 hours of sleep a night.

Sticking to a similar sleep schedule during the week and the weekend can help you fall asleep at night and have enough energy during the day.

Try to catch up on weekends, if you can. You will always be working less effectively when you have a sleep deficit. You get into a bad cycle of losing sleep, working less effectively, working longer hours to make up for your inefficiency, and then sleeping even less.

It is better to get enough sleep during the week. You will work more efficiently and creatively if you do. Eventually, you’ll find you don’t have to work as many hours to get the same amount done. But the overwork, the cut sleep cycle is very seductive because we aren’t aware that we lose effectiveness.