It's common knowledge that getting too little sleep may be detrimental to your health, but a recent Yale study indicates that even a few additional hours of sleep may not be worth it.
Researchers from Yale University discovered that those who do not receive the recommended amount of sleep had levels of biomarkers that signal an elevated risk of dementia or stroke. Their findings were published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
This covered not just those who slept insufficiently but also those who slept more than the suggested seven to nine hours every night.
"Diseases such as stroke or dementia are the terminal outcome of a protracted process that ends tragically," stated Santiago Clocchiatti-Touzzo, M.D., the study's author and a postdoctoral researcher at Yale.
"We'd like to know how to stop these processes before they start."
The brain abnormalities known as white matter hypersensitivities, which are associated with an increased risk of stroke or dementia, were the focus of the Yale team's investigation.
Researchers collected brain scan data from Biobank researchers and survey responses from the group on how many hours they slept per night.
28,912 participants in the research reported getting their "optimal" amount of sleep each night, 8,468 reported not getting enough sleep, and 2,391 reported sleeping too much.
Researchers counted the amount of white matter hypersensitivities in each individual using the scans. The incidence of these lesions has been connected in the past to the onset of dementia and other forms of cognitive impairment.
Researchers discovered that those with little sleep had higher levels of hypersensitivity compared to those with enough sleep. The average number of hypersensitivities was similar in those who slept more than those who got the ideal amount of sleep.
However, according to Yale researchers, these lesions showed higher amounts of damage and were denser.
Dr. Clocchiatti-Tuozzo went on, "These results add to the growing body of evidence that sleep is a prime pillar of brain health."
"It also offers evidence to support our understanding of how sleep quality and quantity may represent a modifiable risk factor for cognitive health in later life."
Researchers came to the conclusion that middle-aged adults should start considering their sleeping patterns right now in order to stop these lesions from developing, which might later have detrimental side effects.
In all, 39,771 middle-aged individuals were assessed for the study using information from the UK Biobank, a sizable store of health and lifestyle data collected from British residents.
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