How much sleep do people in middle and old age really need? Seven hours appears to be the ideal amount of sleep, a team of researchers has found.
They found that seven hours is the optimal amount of sleep for people in middle and old age. This amount of sleep was good for both their cognitive performance and mental health.
“Both insufficient and excessive sleep duration were significantly associated with a decline in cognition on follow up,” the researchers wrote.
In other words, having less or more than seven hours of sleep affected their cognitive performance. Those who slept in longer or shorter durations also showed symptoms of depression and anxiety, and had “worse overall well-being,” the university noted.
It is, however, unclear why sleeping for longer hours is detrimental. One possibility is that poor sleep quality would lead people to try to sleep more because they feel tired.
Professor Sahakian also stressed the importance of sleep, especially as people age.
I – Word Understanding
Optimal – best
Cognitive – intellectual activities such as thinking, reasoning and remembering
Detrimental – harmful / damaging
II – Have Your Say
1, Before having read this article, how many hours of sleep did you consider good enough for you?
How many hours of sleep do you actually have?
2, What struggles have you experienced when it comes to sleeping? How do you (did you) manage it?
3, How would you compare your sleeping quality now, to when you were younger?
4, Aside from good sleep, what are the other things you do to take care of your body, especially your mental health?
878 Here’s How Much Sleep People In Middle, Old Age Should Have
