WE all know sleep is important – but some new research is making people rethink how much you really need.
too much has been linked to , especially for those with .
Scientists from the US, looked at nearly 2,000 adults from the Framingham Heart Study to see how sleep affects brain function.
Everyone was free from and , and ages ranged from late 20s to mid-80s.
They found that people who slept longer than what’s usually recommended did worse on memory and thinking tests.
This was even more true for people showing signs of depression.
The current National Sleep Foundation guidelines recommend that most adults sleep forbetween seven and nine hours per night.
Countless studies have shown that both too little and too much sleep can harm your health.
is linked to problems like , , and higher risks of heart disease and diabetes.
But this new study, published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia revealed that too much sleep might also hurt your brain.
The research, led by the University of Texas Health Science Center, found that long sleep – but not short sleep – was linked to poorer overall thinking skills, including problem-solving.
“Long but not short sleep duration was associated with poorer global cognition and specific cognitive abilities like memory, visuospatial skills and executive functions,”;; said Sudha Seshadri, founding director of the Biggs Institute and senior author of the study.
The link between long sleep and cognitive decline was even stronger in people showing signs of depression, no matter if they were taking antidepressants or not.
“Long-sleepers were more likely to report symptoms of depression,”;; said Vanessa Young, clinical research project manager and first author of the study.
“Sleep may be a modifiable risk for cognitive decline in people with depression.”;;
About 90 per cent of people with depression experience sleep problems, with many of them sleeping longer than people without the condition.
This means their sleep patterns could directly affect how well their brain works over time.
“Sleep may be a modifiable risk for cognitive decline in people with depression,”;; Vanessa Young, clinical research project manager, who also worked on the study, added.
The experts say more studies are needed to understand how long sleep affects the brain over time, particularly in people with depression.
For now, they advise aiming for balanced sleep — not too little, not too much — to keep your brain sharp.
