Middle-aged adults who sleep six hours or less a night may be at higher risk of developing dementia later in life, a new study suggests.
People aged 50 or 60 who slept six hours or less each night were more likely than those who slept seven hours to be diagnosed with dementia, according to the study published Tuesday in the scientific journal Nature Communications.
Even after controlling for cardiac, metabolic, and mental health problems, the researchers found that 50-year-olds who slept six hours or less per night had a 22% higher risk of developing dementia later in life. Sixty-year-olds were 37% more likely to develop the condition. The comparisons were with people who slept for seven hours every night.
A group of European researchers looked at survey data from nearly 8,000 adults in the UK over 25 years and linked the data to diagnoses of dementia in electronic health records. The data came from a survey of British officials at University College London that began in 1985. Since then, the participants have been surveyed every four to five years.
Participants reported their sleep duration, and some wore sleep trackers at night to confirm that their self-reports were accurate. While the authors cautioned that the findings cannot determine whether less sleep causes dementia, they said the new study adds to short-term research showing that too little sleep is linked to the development of the condition.