WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Sleep has always been considered an important element of overall health, and recently a new research has linked its importance to brain health.
Published in the online journal Neurology, the study involved 589 participants who averaged 40 years of age at the beginning of the study.
They answered questionnaires regarding their sleep pattern, discussing six characteristics - short sleep duration, bad sleep quality, difficulty falling asleep, difficulty staying asleep, early morning awakening and daytime sleepiness.
The survey was completed after five years. Then, ten years later, researchers examined brain scans of the participants to determine their brain aging.
The team found that those who reported two to three poor sleep characteristics had an average brain age that was 1.6 years older than those with no more than one poor sleep characteristic. Whereas, those with more than three poor sleep characteristics had an average brain age 2.6 years older.
'Of the sleep characteristics, bad sleep quality, difficulty falling asleep, difficulty staying asleep and early morning awakening were linked to greater brain age, especially when people consistently had these poor sleep characteristics over five years,' the study noted.
However, the study could include inaccuracies as the sleep problems were reported by the participants on their own.
'Our findings highlight the importance of addressing sleep problems earlier in life to preserve brain health, including maintaining a consistent sleep schedule, exercising, avoiding caffeine and alcohol before going to bed and using relaxation techniques,' said study co- author Dr. Kristine Yaffe.
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