Sleeping after midnight may increase the risk of developing mental health problems, a study suggests.
THE to sleep the hours we sleep during the day affect not only our physical but also our mental health. Scientists have been paying attention to the importance of quality sleep at night for years.
A new study from Imperial College Londonpublished in a scientific journal Psychiatry Research found People who go to bed before 1am have a generally healthier psyche, with fewer reported cases of mental, behavioral and neurodevelopmental disorders.depression and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD).
Some people prefer to get up early and go to bed, while others prefer to wake up late and go to bed later. This new study claims that people go to bed after 1am. have worse mental health.
The researchers analyzed the data 73,888 through UK Biobank; 56% of them are women. The average age of the participants was 63.5 years and they slept an average of 7 hours.
How sleep affects mental health
Lead study author Jamie Zeitzer, PhD, professor of psychiatry and sleep medicine at Stanford University, referred to a theory called “the mind after midnight.” the brain works differently late at night, which can affect mental health.
“We think it’s because people are isolated when they sleep late at night, so they miss out on the emotions that come with socializing,” Zeitzer explains.
“When we sleep late and less rapid eye movement (REM), and this increases in the second half of the night.”
“REM sleep is strongly associated with mood regulation—ie, less REM sleep, worse mood—and REM sleep changes are considered a risk factor for many neuropsychiatric disorders, such as depression, anxiety disorders, and PTSD,” the experts said.
The time of sleep regulates the work of the internal “clock” of the body. The study’s scientists argue that the best hours for people to sleep are likely to differ between different time zones around the world.