A Study Concludes That Sleeping 6 Hours Is Just As Bad As Not Sleeping At All
It has always been said that people should sleep at least 6 hours if we do not want to compromise our health and well-being In fact, experts have long recommended that it is necessary to sleep between 6 and 8 hours to perform better the next day and not suffer the effects of lack of sleep.
However, a recent study has shown that sleeping 6 hours is not necessarily good for the human body and can even be as bad as no sleep as far as cognitive performance is concerned.
These results could indicate, therefore, that the advice that experts have given us for so many years was not correct. This study was published in the Sleep Journal and included 48 adult subjects whose sleep hours were restricted. Some participants slept four, others six, and others eight hours for two weeks. The research also included another group of subjects who spent three days in a row without sleep.
In order to obtain the results, the participants were tested every two hours in terms of their cognitive performance (unless they were asleep, of course), as well as their reaction time, their level of sleep, the symptoms they experienced and also responded to. to questions about his state of mind.
The conclusions of the study were clear. Subjects who were able to sleep for six hours a night performed just as poorly than those individuals who were forced to stay awake for three days in a row.
Why six hours of sleep is not enough
What is clear from this research is that the 8 hours of sleep that have always been recommended are ideal for greater performance. It is also clear that subjects who sleep only four hours a night accumulate a sleep deficit and get worse every day.
As for the study subjects who slept 6 hours, despite the fact that during the first days they showed normal cognitive performance, After a few days they began to show a decline in performance In fact, their performance was as bad as those who hadn’t slept in three days. However, one of the most striking results was that the group of subjects who slept six hours did not seem to have the same perception of sleep as people who had not slept in three days.
Performance decreases after a few days
The former did not describe the fact of having slept that number of hours as something negative nor did they claim to feel drowsy. On the contrary, subjects who had not slept in three days did perceive that they were much more tired. This seems to indicate that sleeping six hours may not leave us as tired as no sleep, however, cognitive performance is still just as bad as no sleep at all.
Now, sleeping four hours is even worse than sleeping six hours, since the performance of these participants worsens every day. In the case of 6 hours of sleep, it is from the tenth day onwards that they begin to lose their faculties.
It seems, therefore, that a difference of two hours of sleep causes a quite considerable drop in performance, and there are surely many people who do not sleep their 8 hours a day and who may be suffering from these effects. Another curious investigation, this time carried out by the University of Chicago, states that people don’t know how many hours they sleep That is, they could believe that they sleep seven hours and in reality they are sleeping six.
The results of this research show that people overestimate their sleep time, and are wrong by 0.8 hours on average.
Changing sleeping habits is a complicated task
Experts have been warning for some time that it is necessary to carry out a series of habits that help us sleep better. Practicing physical exercise, turning off the television before going to bed or reducing alcohol consumption are some examples. If it is already complicated to adopt these habits, It is more complicated to transform your behavior if you do not know that you need to change your habits to improve your cognitive performance
One factor that sleep experts focus a lot on is reducing weight to sleep better. Obesity has a strong correlation with insomnia and sleep apnea, as stated in a study by the National Sleep Foundation of the United States. There is much research that states that obese workers perform less at work and are less productive than those who are not obese.
Habits to sleep better
In reality, there are many factors that intervene when it comes to sleeping well at night: stress at work, problems with your love relationship or drinking stimulating drinks at night.
And sleeping well is decisive for our health and, as you have seen, it affects performance in different fields, such as school or work. Now, you can adopt a series of habits that help you sleep better. Which are?
1. Take care of the environment For example: use a comfortable pillow and mattress and don’t watch TV before going to bed.
2. Do not eat large meals at night as they can make it difficult to sleep.
3. Do not take stimulants when bedtime approaches.
4. To do physical exercise and improve physical condition.
5. Don’t go overboard with the nap to avoid feeling too light-headed at night.
