Good quality sleep is healthier than sleeping for too long but waking up multiple times.
- The increase in sleep time was not followed by greater productivity at work, better blood pressure or even a greater sense of well-being.
- The quantity of sleep increased but not the quality with more awakenings at night.
- One way to reverse these results is to add a daytime nap.
Getting good sleep is essential for good health. In case of insomnia, a few tips can help you fall back asleep better, such as embarking on a short activity to clear your mind. This is important because it only takes three bad nights to go haywire. In a new research, published on April 8 in The Quarterly Journal of EconomicsAmerican scientists from MIT suggest that spending more time in bed is not necessarily beneficial for the body as long as there is no good quality sleep.
A fragmented sleep
The researchers examined the sleep of 452 low-income workers over the course of a month in Chennai (India). For this, they were equipped with actigraphs which are small portable motion sensors capable of monitoring sleep cycles. For the study, scientists gave participants an extra 27 minutes of sleep and observed the effect on their performance during the day.
The results showed that this extra sleep time was not followed by greater productivity at work, better blood pressure or even a greater sense of well-being. “To our surprise, these interventions had no positive effect on any of the outcomes we measured.”, noted Frank Schilbach, author of the study. To save sleep time, the volunteers increased their time spent in bed by 38 minutes, which reflects their difficult sleeping conditions.
Quality better than quantity
The participants’ nights were fragmented since they woke up an average of 31 times per night. “A key thing that stands out is that sleep efficiency was lowadds Frank Schilbach. They have extremely little time to feel the restorative benefits of deep sleep. The amount of sleep increased due to the interventions as they spent more time in bed, but the quality of their sleep did not change.”
These results indicate that it is better to sleep deeper than to increase their amount of sleep. “Adding poor quality sleep may not have the benefits that an extra half hour of sleep would have if it were of higher quality”, continue the researchers.
The nap, a credible alternative
One way to reverse these results is to add a daytime nap. Those who were allowed to take a half-hour nap during work time fared better in several measured categories. “In contrast to the nocturnal sleep intervention, we find clear evidence that naps improve a range of outcomes, including productivity, cognitive function and psychological well-being.”, concluded Frank Schilbach.
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