- A lack of sufficient sleep is associated with cognitive decline in a new study.
- The study reports that people who wake early in the morning require five to six hours of sleep to remain cognitively healthy.
- The findings also show that people who wake up later require seven to eight hours of sleep.
- Some data suggests that people who thrive on less sleep may not experience adverse cognitive effects.
- Short naps may be helpful and may provide short-term cognitive benefits. Longer naps may cause a short-term reduction in cognitive performance.
A new study reports an association between the amount of sleep and eventual cognitive decline.
The findings suggest the influence of sleep duration on a person’s risk of cognitive decline may depend on whether they are an early or late riser.
For the purposes of the research, people were categorized according to the time of day based on their preferred wake-up time. They were classified as “morningness” or “eveningness” types, with an additional subgroup of people expressing no preference, referred to as “intermediate” sleepers.
The study is based on
When sleep quality was not considered, the researchers found that sleeping seven to eight hours is associated with the lowest risk of cognitive decline.
When the study factored in sleep quality, the lowest risk of cognitive decline was associated with five to six hours of sleep for the morningness group, six to seven hours for the intermediate group. For the eveningness group, it was…
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