Sleep Quality and Duration Boost Cognition in Aging Populations

Good quality of sleep as well as duration improves cognition among the aging population.

Considering the association between good sleep quality and improved cognition, the researchers suggest using sleep gadgets such as sound therapy and  wristbands.  Researchers at the University of Oregon found that middle aged or older people who sleep for six to nine hours a night have better cognitive abilities.

In this study that began in 2007, the researchers used data gathered across six-middle-income nations from more than 30,000 subjects.

"We wanted to look at aging, particularly dementia and cognitive decline as people get older, and the importance of sleep. Our results provide compelling evidence that sleep matters a lot," said lead author Theresa E. Gildner, a doctoral student in the UO's anthropology department. "In all six countries, which are very different culturally, economically and environmentally -- despite all these differences -- you see similar patterns emerging."

The researchers basically focused on people 50 years old and older in China, Ghana, India, Mexico, the Russian Federation and South Africa.

The researchers noticed that in all six nations, men had higher sleep quality. In Mexico both men and women had the highest sleep quality.  In all the countries except Russia and Mexico, women slept longer than men. In South Africa, both men and women slept longer than in any other country.  It was in India that both the sexes had the least sleep hours. Those sleeping less than six hours and more than nine hours had lower cognitive scores.

The participants rated their quality of sleep as well as duration of sleep on a five point scale.  This was followed by five cognitive tests that involved recalling list of words, delayed recalls of the words later, forward and backward recall of long list of numbers and verbal fluency test.

The study concludes that, "the findings have important implications for future intervention strategies for dementia. The consistent associations between intermediate sleep durations, high sleep quality and enhanced cognitive performance in these diverse populations suggests that improving sleep patterns may help reduce the level of cognitive decline as seen in older adults."

The study was documented in Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine.