A COMMON sleep habit may be an early sign of Alzheimer’s, a study shows.Do you love a lie-in or a do you regularly feel exhausted from too little sleep?GettyHaving a lie-in was linked to a higher risk of Alzheimer’s[/caption]Clocking in enough hours of shut-eye is important for long-term health, scientists at the University of Warwick said.They cited recent research which urged adults to aim for roughly seven hours of sleep each night.
But going above or below this sleep sweet spot could put people at risk of worrying health issues, researchers warned. People who sleep longer than seven hours may be more likely to suffer cognitive decline and diseases such as Alzheimer’s, they found. Regularly sleeping less than seven hours could also bring on side effects, as short snoozers were more at risk of depression, heart disease and obesity.
Scientists described their findings as a “paradigm shift” for understanding the connection between sleep and health.Led by Professor Jianfeng Feng, from the School of Computer Science at the University of Warwick, researchers analysed the sleep data of almost half a million adults in the UK aged between 38 and 73.Participants were asked how many hours of sleep they tended to get each night.
Based on how they answered this question, researchers then split them into groups of ‘short’ and ‘long sleepers’ – people who slept fewer then seven hours and those that slept more.Participants’ sleep habits were then examined alongside he.