Scientists analyzed data from almost 500,000 adults between the ages of 38 and 73. Good sleep is particularly important for older people.
Too short as well as too long a sleep duration is seen in connection with reduced cognitive performance.
(dpa) Seven hours of sleep is the ideal amount of sleep for middle-aged and old people. This is reported by American and Chinese scientists in the journal “Nature Aging”. The conclusion of the study is that significantly more or less sleep is associated with impairment of mental health and poorer mental performance. Good sleep is all the more important, especially for older people.
Specifically, scientists from the Universities of Cambridge and Fuhan examined data from almost 500,000 adults between the ages of 38 and 73 that were collected in the “UK Biobank”, a comprehensive British database. The subjects were asked about their sleep patterns, mental health and well-being, and also took part in a series of cognitive tests. MRI images of the brain and genetic data were available for almost 40,000 participants.
The analysis of all this information showed that both too little and too much sleep was associated with reduced cognitive performance – the corresponding subjects were slower on the tests and had a shorter attention span and poorer problem-solving skills. Their mental health also suffered: people who got too much or too little sleep showed more symptoms of anxiety and depression and lower overall well-being.