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###Treating yourself to a lie-in could slash the risk of getting dementia by more than 70 per cent, study finds###

Researchers from National Taiwan University Hospital, in Taipei, Taiwan, tracked 215 men and women aged 65 or over for two years.

The volunteers kept sleep diaries and wore accelerometers – wrist-watch like devices that monitor when the body is moving or motionless – to record sleeping times.

Researchers then analysed what proportion developed cognitive dysfunction – an early warning sign for dementia.

The results showed roughly half the volunteers enjoyed a weekend lie-in to catch up on sleep they had missed during the week.

As a result, they were 74 per cent less likely to have deteriorating cognitive function than those who did not stay in bed.

Weekend catch-up sleep has previously been shown to reduce the risk of heart attacks, ward off obesity, keep depression at bay and even help people live longer.