Sleep affects everything from our moods and mental health to our ability to function throughout the day.
Over the years, the amount of sleep adults need has been debated and analysed by scientists and sleep experts.
And, a new study has revealed the perfect amount of sleep you need each night, from middle to old age, in order to help with cognitive function and mental health.
The study looked at the sleeping habits of almost 500,000 adults from the ages of 38 to 73 and discovered that seven hours of sleep was the optimal duration needed for people within that age range.
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Of the study, Cambridge University’s Department of Psychiatry Professor, Barbara Sahakian, explained: “For every hour that you moved away from seven hours you got worse. It’s very clear that the processes that go on in our brain during sleep are very important for maintaining our physical and mental health.”
Getting a good night’s sleep, she added, was important at all stages of life, but particularly as people aged. “I think it is as important as getting exercise.”
While many experts have previously advised getting eight hours of sleep, the study concluded that this could be just as detrimental as getting insufficient sleep.
A good amount of sleep is vital to enable day-to-day cognitive function – including processing speed, memory, problem-solving abilities and visual attention – and both a surplus of sleep or too little can impact this.
Other studies have also reported a connection between sleep duration and the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease or dementia because cognitive decline is a symptom of both.
Professor Jianfeng Feng from Fudan University in China said: “While we can’t say conclusively that too little or too much sleep causes cognitive problems, our analysis looking at individuals over a longer period of time appears to support this idea.
“But the reasons why older people have poorer sleep appear to be complex, influenced by a combination of our genetic makeup and the structure of our brains.”
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