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Sleeping less as an adult can take a toll on your brain function 10 years later
Those who pride themselves on sleeping little yet functioning optimally are ignorant about the devastating long-term effects of disrupted sleep.
Adequate sleep is crucial for overall well-being. People who get less than the recommended amount of rest each night are more prone to mental and physical health issues. One study found that teens who slept an hour less as a child face a greater risk of substance use.
Disrupted sleep in mid-life causes symptoms a decade later
Lack of sleep is said to cause great damage to the brain, which can contribute to critical diseases like Alzheimer’s disease later in life.
Moreover, Alzheimer’s disease begins to affect the brain by destroying its cells much before the earliest signs such as loss of working memory occur.
So, researchers from the University of California studied the impact of disrupted sleep in 526 people with an average age of 40, who were followed for 11 years.
They calculated the total scores of sleeplessness determined using various factors such as length and quality of sleep and found that those who scored more had “more than twice the odds of having poor cognitive performance when compared to those with the least disrupted sleep.”
Of the 175 people with the “most disrupted sleep” – who slept less than six hours and reported waking up in between – 44 had poor cognitive performance 10 years later, compared to 10 of the 176 people with the least disrupted sleep,” notes the study.
Daily sleep habits impact creativity for next two weeks
While poor sleeping habits are associated with poor cognitive performance years later, sleeping less regularly can have short-term effects, too.
You may want to get a good night’s sleep every day instead of waiting until the weekend to catch up on the lost rest as it’s said to take a toll on your creativity.
Researchers at�Aalto University found that our brains do not respond to daily life in immediate, isolated outbursts. Whereas, the effects of sleep and workout from the present day linger in the brain for the next two weeks.
The study notes that subtle changes in your mood and heart rate can leave “lasting imprints for up to fifteen days,” thus affecting your ability to think and make decisions in the following days or weeks.
