And sleeping for seven to nine hours each night is optimal for brain function.
People who are night owls could be sharper than morning people, a new study suggests.Researchers, led by academics from Imperial College London, said that various studies have examined sleep and cognitive abilities- in particular the length that someone sleeps – but little is known about sleep patterns, or chronotypes, and cognition.
So they examined data on thousands of people taking part in the UK Biobank study to examine the “intricate relationships” between sleep duration, quality and chronotype – categorised in the study as “morningness,” “eveningness” or “intermediate” – where a person did not particularly align to either of the two. People taking part in the study underwent tests which examined their intelligence, reasoning skills, reaction times and memory. The researchers analysed data on almost 27,000 people, comparing how well they performed on these tests to their self-reported sleep duration, sleep pattern and sleep quality. Chronic stress can have lasting effects on your health and well-being. Creating a healthy routine – including getting enough sleep — and sticking to it can help your body and your brain deal with stress.People who got between seven and nine hours of sleep each night appeared to perform best on the tests, according to the study, which has been published in the journal BMJ Public Health. Academics also found that night owls and those classed as “intermediate” had “superior cognitive function”. Being a woman, increasing age and having a diagnosis of angina, high blood pressure and diabetes appeared to “worsen cognitive performance”, they added. “Our study found that adults who are naturally more active in the evening – what we called ‘eveningness’ – tended to perform better on cognitive tests than those who are ‘morning people’,” said lead author of the study, Dr Raha West, from the Department of Surgery and Cancer at Imperial College London.She added: “While understanding and working with your natural sleep tendencies is essential, it’s equally important to remember to get just enough sleep, not too long or too short. This is crucial for keeping your brain healthy and functioning at its best.” Co-study leader Professor Daqing Ma, also from Imperial’s Department of Surgery and Cancer, added: “We found that sleep duration has a direct effect on brain function, and we believe that proactively managing sleep patterns is really important for boosting, and safeguarding, the way our brains work.We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.It is important that we continue to promote these adverts as our local businesses need as much support as possible during these challenging times.
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