Seven hours sleep is the sweet spot for brain health

Seven hours sleep seems to be the sweet spot by the time you’ve reached the age of 40.

Sleep for much less—or much more—and your cognitive abilities and mental health could be affected, new research suggests.

Regularly getting seven hours sleep every night helps keep you mentally sharp, including the maintaining of good memory recall and problem solving, say researchers from the University of Cambridge.

They analysed data from the UK Biobank, which involved nearly 500,000 people aged from 38 to 73.  The participants were asked about their sleeping patterns and general mental wellbeing.

As well as analysing their answers, the researchers also had brain images and genetic data of around 40,000 of the participants.  They found that poor sleep—whether too much or too little—changed structures in the brain.  

The researchers think that sleep patterns could play a key role in the build-up of amyloid proteins, which have been associated with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.  They also surmise that poor sleep patterns may also play a part in mental disorders.

A lack of sleep prevents the brain from ‘cleaning up’ toxins, which happens only when the brain reaches a deep sleep state.

Their findings echo earlier studies that had also found a link between poor sleep patterns and the risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s.

(Source: Nature Aging, 2022; doi: 10.1038/s43587-022-00210-2)

What do you think? Start a conversation over on the... WDDTY Community