A restful night's sleep might be crucial for promoting healthy ageing, according to research.
Researchers from Wenzhou Medical University in China determined that sleep patterns play a significant role in healthy and successful ageing.
The researchers defined successful ageing as the absence of significant chronic diseases such as diabetes, cancer, chronic respiratory conditions, heart disease, and stroke, along with good mental and cognitive health and no physical disabilities.
The study emphasised the importance of maintaining consistent and sufficient sleep duration to encourage healthy ageing.
“The results highlight the vital need to track changes in sleep duration among middle-aged and older individuals,” the research team mentioned in their publication in BMC Public Health.
The study involved an analysis of 3,306 participants who were free from major chronic illnesses in 2011 and had reached the age of 60 or older by 2020.
The researchers measured total daily sleep hours in 2011, 2013, and 2015 by combining night-time sleep and daytime naps.
Five distinct trajectories of sleep duration were identified: normal-stable (26.1 per cent of participants), long-stable (26.7 per cent), decreasing (7.3 per cent), increasing (13.7 per cent), and short-stable (26.2 per cent).
Individuals with increasing and short stable sleep patterns showed significantly reduced chances of successful ageing. The decreasing sleep pattern also indicated lower odds.
Overall, by 2020, only 13.8 per cent of the cohort fulfilled the criteria for successful ageing.
The team concluded that both consistently short and long sleep durations could hinder successful ageing, as they may disrupt both physiological and psychological health.
“These findings emphasise that chronic lack of sleep, along with patterns of increasing and decreasing sleep duration, are not simply changes related to age; instead, they represent key indicators of challenges in achieving successful ageing,” the research team stated in their paper.
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