A recent study conducted by scientists at Fudan University in Shanghai has revealed that seven hours of sleep is the optimal duration for adults in their middle and later years. The team analyzed health data from nearly 500,000 adults aged between 38 and 73 years old, taken from a British database. The data included information on the participants’ mental health, well-being, and sleep patterns, as well as results from cognitive tests. The study found that both too much and too little sleep negatively impacted cognitive performance, with affected participants showing poorer problem-solving abilities and shorter attention spans. Additionally, their mental health was also found to be worse, with symptoms of anxiety and depression being associated with both too much and too little sleep.
The study also found that the duration of sleep can affect the structures of brain regions involved in memory and cognitive processing, including the hippocampus. The researchers concluded that seven hours of sleep without fluctuations is ideal for overall well-being, mental health, and cognitive performance for middle-aged adults. However, the study cannot prove causality, meaning that it cannot definitively show that insufficient or excessive sleep duration reduces cognitive performance or impairs health.
The authors of the study suggest that the negative effects of too much or too little sleep may be due to a disturbance in the slow-wave sleep phase, which has been linked to the accumulation of beta-amyloid molecules in the brain. These protein deposits are also found in Alzheimer’s patients and are likely to promote the death of nerve cells. The study highlights the importance of getting the right amount of sleep for optimal health and cognitive function, and the need for further research in this area.
