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Quality of sleep, number of hours spent sleeping… Our nights are of crucial importance for our physical and mental health. And according to English researchers, you should sleep 7 hours a night (no more, no less) to keep your brain in top shape.
Sleep plays an important role in activating cognitive functions and maintaining good psychological health, as well as keeping the brain healthy. English researchers from the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom and Fudan in China have teamed up to find out the ideal length of sleep for a person over 40 years old.
More than 40,000 attendees
To do this, they looked at data from almost 500,000 adults between the ages of 38 and 73. All were asked about their sleep habits, mental health and well-being. They also carried out cognitive tests. Nearly 40,000 participants in this study also provided genetic data and brain images, which made it possible to target the hippocampus area as being the one impacted by sleep duration.
Seven hours of sleep per night
Their findings were published April 28 in the journal Nature Aging. At the end of the analysis, the scientists concluded that those who slept 7 hours a night showed better results in tests relating to the speed of processing information or visual attention, memory or the ability to solve problems. The latter also showed less visible signs of anxiety and depression. And those, in comparison with those who slept less than seven hours or more.
One of the study’s lead authors, Jianfeng Feng of Fudan University in China, explains: “Although we can’t say conclusively that too little – or too much – sleep causes cognitive problems, our analysis of individuals over a longer period of time seems to support this idea. But the reasons why older people sleep less appear to be complex, influenced by a combination of our genetic make-up and brain structure.“.
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Of paramount importance
How to explain these results? Researchers believe that the link between insufficient sleep and cognitive decline may stem from disruption of slow to deep sleep phases. Additionally, lack of sleep can decrease the brain’s ability to get rid of toxins.
For Professor Barbara Sahakian, from the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Cambridge: “Getting a good night’s sleep is important at all stages of life, but especially as we age” she explains. “Finding ways to improve sleep in older adults could be crucial in helping them maintain good mental health and ward off cognitive decline, especially for patients with psychiatric disorders and dementia.”.