Have you ever woken up in the morning after a long night, and felt like you were on the brink of death? Such a statement would mostly be seen as a joke, but it turns out that this may not be so far from the truth! A recent study has revealed that people under the age of 65 who get less than 5 hours of sleep on a regular basis are at risk of an early death.
But don’t panic just yet, because apparently the devastating effects of sleep deprivation can be rectified, as long as the person makes up for their lack of weekday sleep with a nice healthy weekend sleep. In other words; as long as you make the most of your weekends, and get in a good bit of sleep at least once a week, you shouldn’t be dropping dead any time soon. This is great news if you love dozing all day, or simply enjoy lazing under the covers playing at a casino online, or reading a good book. Science says that downtime is good for you, and the more sleep you get, the better!
The Sleep Science Study
Torbjörn Åkerstedt is a clinical neuroscience professor based at the Swedish Karolinska Institute. He took part in the study, and went into more detail about what it involved. It turns out that the study took into account much more than just sleep patterns. Data was collected from 30,000 volunteers over 13 years, looking at aspects such as the subject’s gender, body mass, education, caffeine intake, alcoholic intake, employment status, and more.
The object of the study was to determine the impact of various factors on mortality, with special attention paid to sleep patterns, given that a trend seemed to emerge. In short, a clear link was found between sleep deprivation and an increase in stress. Since stress is a major problem, and can result in a number of health problems, it is obviously advisable to keep stress levels as low as possible. The conclusion is a straightforward one; less sleep equals more stress, which is detrimental to the health of the average person. Not ground breaking information, but always worth further study.
Over 65’s Have It Figured Out
Another interesting aspect of the study was that those over 65 had less of a problem getting enough sleep. Åkerstedt did not go into deep detail about why this was, but simply stated that people over a certain age are far less prone to stress, and simply tend to get the sleep they need.
This makes sense given that the bulk of stressful career climbing happens in the average person’s youth. But having a busy life in ones younger years is still no excuse not to get enough sleep, especially when serious health issues are the major risk involved. Perhaps the youth could learn from sleepy senior citizens.
Smart Sleep Management
Getting enough sleep can be a major challenge for those who live busy lives. But as already said, the study found that getting in extended sleep on weekends is an acceptable way to keep balance. So those who have hectic weeks need not feel guilty about sleeping in on Saturdays and Sundays. The idea is to keep stress levels low and to feel well rested and rejuvenated.
As with most things health related, care must be taken when a person is young, in order to avoid serious health risks later in life. Many tend to take great care in what they eat, but tend to neglect things like adequate amounts of sleep. However, as the study has shown, sleep is something that needs serious attention, so go get some shuteye!
Source:
https://mashable.com/2018/05/23/sleep-weekends-early-death/?utm_cid=hp-hh-pri
