Is sleeping too much bad for your brain?

Getting seven-eight hours of sleep every night is related to the highest cognitive functioning. Both shorter and longer lengths of sleep cause a dip in performance.

Effect of sleep on memory

The strains of modern life frequently mean that we sleep less than we might like. Expanded screen time, caffeine, and stress are among the numerous reasons why people don’t get the sleep they require.

In this way, the quality of our sleep crumbles, making the understanding of the effect it has on our health and performance more important than ever. In fact, researchers from Western University’s Brain and Mind Institute in Canada set up the biggest sleep study till date.

Where are the deficits?

It overwhelmed the researchers that getting seven-eight hours of sleep every night was related to the highest cognitive functioning. Both shorter and longer lengths of sleep caused a dip in performance.

Interestingly, this effect was consistent, regardless of age. That said, older adults were more likely to have shorter sleep durations, implying that overall, they were affected more by lack of sleep than other age groups.

Both, more and less sleep, adversely affected a variety of cognitive functions, such as identifying complex patterns and manipulating information to solve problems.

A standout amongst the most astounding discoveries from the cognitive tests was that people who slept for four hours or less every night, executed just as they were very nearly eight years older. Researchers also found that people who slept more than that amount were equally impaired as those who slept too little. Though scientists had expected to see psychological deficits in those who slept for a short time, seeing deficits in those who slept for longer was amazing.

Researchers, however, noticed that short-term memory was generally untouched by sleep duration.

The implications

It’s just how much difference sleep can make to the way our brains perform which is critical as increasingly more of us get less and less sleep.

These discoveries have significant real-world implications because many people, experience the ill-effects of impaired reasoning, problem-solving, and communication skills on a daily basis. The amount of sleep required to keep your brain performing at its best is seven to eight hours every night.

(The author is senior consultant,
Neurology, Paras Hospitals, Gurgaon)