A recent study from Stanford University (United States) offered three interesting conclusions about sleep and its relationship with mental health. What time should you go to bed for healthier aging?
titled “Hazards of the Night: Impact of Timing and Behavioral Preference on the Mental Health of 73,888 Community-Dwelling Adults,” investigated how mental health is influenced by the inclination to sleep at specific times (chronotype). taking into account the actual moments of sleep (behavior).
“Chronotype and timing of actual sleep are often misaligned. “This study aims to determine how chronotype, sleep schedule, and the alignment between the two impact mental health,” specifies the abstract of the research, which took into account middle-aged and older adults living in the same community.
The impact of chronotype, behavioral timing, and alignment between the two was analyzed for mental, behavioral, neurodevelopmental (MBN), depression, and anxiety disorders (as assessed via ICD-10 codes).
Taking all these factors into account, let’s see what the results were.
The conclusions of the study
The first conclusion says that “morning preference people who go to bed early (aligned) exhibit better mental health compared to morning people who go to bed late (misaligned)”.
Men are three times more likely to be diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea. Photo Shutterstock.
A striking fact that emerges from this initial statement is that “those with a nocturnal preference who sleep late (aligned) demonstrate poorer mental health”.
The second conclusion is that “going to bed late, regardless of natural inclination, is associated with worse mental health.”
Finally, there is the one that explains the time at which it is advisable to go to bed if you want better aging: “For healthy aging, it is recommended that people start sleeping before 1 a.m.regardless of their chronobiological preferences.”
