A study from Imperial College London has found a link between people’s sleep preferences and their brain function. Specifically, those who prefer evening activities, often called “night owls,” generally tend to have higher cognitive scores than those who are more active in the morning.
The researchers analyzed data from over 26,000 people using the UK Biobank database. This large-scale study looked at various aspects of sleep, including duration, patterns, and quality, to understand how they affect mental sharpness and overall cognitive ability.
Participants had completed several cognitive tests and reported whether they considered themselves a “morning person” or an “evening person,” indicating the time of day they felt most alert and productive.
The findings, published in BMJ Public Health, revealed that sleeping between seven to nine hours a night is optimal for brain function.
This amount of sleep boosts cognitive functions like memory, reasoning, and processing speed. In contrast, sleeping for fewer than seven hours or more than nine hours had a negative impact on brain function.
The study also highlighted the role of chronotypes, which are individual preferences for morning or evening activity. People who are more active in the evening, or “night owls,” performed better on cognitive tests compared to those who are more active in the morning, known as “morning larks.”
Night owls scored about 13.5% higher than morning types in one group and 7.5% higher in another group.
Those who had a mild preference for either morning or evening, known as intermediate types, also did better than morning types, scoring 10.6% and 6.3% higher in the two groups. These differences were statistically significant, indicating that they are unlikely to be due to chance.
The analysis took into account various health and lifestyle factors, such as age, gender, smoking, alcohol consumption, and the presence of chronic diseases like heart disease and diabetes.
Generally, younger individuals and those without chronic conditions scored higher in cognitive tests, and healthier lifestyle choices were associated with better cognitive performance.
Dr. Raha West, the lead author of the study from Imperial College’s Department of Surgery and Cancer, stated, “Our study found that adults who are naturally more active in the evening tend to perform better on cognitive tests than those who are morning people. These chronotypes could impact our cognitive function.”
Dr. West emphasized that this doesn’t mean all morning people have worse cognitive performance. The findings reflect an overall trend where the majority might lean towards better cognition in evening types.
She also noted that while it’s possible to shift natural sleep habits by adjusting bedtimes and light exposure, completely changing from a morning to an evening person is complex.
Dr. West added, “Understanding and working with your natural sleep tendencies is essential, but it’s equally important to get just the right amount of sleep—not too long or too short—to keep your brain healthy and functioning at its best.”
Interestingly, the study found that while sleep duration is crucial, people who reported insomnia did not score significantly lower in cognitive performance. This suggests that the specifics of insomnia, such as its severity and duration, need to be considered.
Co-study leader Professor Daqing Ma from Imperial’s Department of Surgery and Cancer highlighted the importance of sleep duration for brain function.
He suggested that proactively managing sleep patterns is crucial for boosting and protecting brain function and called for policy interventions to help improve sleep patterns in the general population.
This research underscores the significant impact of sleep preferences and duration on cognitive performance, offering insights that could lead to better sleep management and improved brain health.
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The research findings can be found in BMJ Public Health.
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