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Today we celebrate Employee Appreciation Day, and what better way to appreciate employees than to make sure they're well rested?

You know you're overtired. Too much work; family obligations; occasional workweek fun for yourself. You feel yourself dragging at the office… and you likely tell yourself the same thing most of us do: I'll catch up on my sleep over the weekend.

But does it work?

The Wall Street Journal ran a terrific piece titled: “Can You Catch Up on Lost Sleep?” The Journal spoke with “one sleep expert, W. Christopher Winter, medical director of the Martha Jefferson Hospital Sleep Medicine Center in Charlottesville, VA.” Dr. Winter unraveled the complicated issue.

Sleep Binge: “Spending a few extra hours in bed on a Saturday morning, people assume, will help them “catch up” on lost sleep. They're likely right.”

Sleep Banking: “Recent data suggests that banking sleep in advance of a long night can actually offset upcoming sleep deprivation.”

Naps: “A scheduled nap is healthier than catching up on or banking sleep.”

The issue is so central to business productivity, of course, that is also attracts attention from the business school publications. Writes Knowledge@Wharton: “Corporate sleep consultant Nancy H. Rothstein says lack of sleep is nothing less than a public health epidemic. ‘We know that being a shift worker is very hard on the body, and it’s almost like everyone is a shift worker these days because we’re all doing these crazy things at all hours, and our body likes consistency Twitter.' And yet, few companies are doing anything about it. ‘I’d like to tell you this is the newest thing, but to me it’s the missing link that is really overlooked,' Rothstein adds. ‘Employers are becoming aware of it, but as far as taking action, that next step, it’s only starting to happen.'”