A new study shows regularity in your sleep pattern is more important than getting the famed eight hours
We've been repeatedly told that getting eight hours' sleep a night is vital for our renewal and cognitive function. But the amount of hours you get may not be the most important thing. A new study has shown that having a regular bedtime is far more important when it comes to sleep and longevity. According to the study, getting six hours' sleep every night, consistently falling asleep and waking up around the same time, is better than the number of hours we sleep. RCSI's Professor Annie Curtis, a body clock expert, joined RTÉ Radio 1's Drivetime to talk about what it all means. (This piece includes excerpts from the conversation which have been edited for length and clarity - you can hear the discussion in full above at 1:22:40).
"Us body clock experts have been saying for a long time that regularity is a really key feature of getting good sleep. So when we would be asked about 'what's the secret of a good night's sleep', in addition to all of these other sleep hygiene tips, probably the biggest one then was regularity: going to bed at the same time, getting up at the same time, irrespective of whether it's a weekday or a week night," says Curtis.
But what's "a little bit astonishing" about the new study, is just how important that regularity is, she says. "They looked at 60,000 individuals [from the UK Biobank], [aged ]between 40 and 69. Basically, they were able to put together this thing called a sleep regularity index." The index measured how regularly participants went to sleep and got up, for how long they slept, and whether their sleep was fragmented or not.
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
From RTÉ Radio 1's The Ray D'Arcy Show, Professor Andrew Coogan, Behavioural neuroscientist, on how to reset your sleep
"What they actually showed was that having really high sleep regularity was associated in a 30% reduction in all cause mortality, so anything that could kill you, and 30% reduction in cancer mortality. And about the same as well in terms of cardiovascular disease, which is the leading cause of death," she explains.
"We've been hounded, to be honest with you, about the eight hours sleep. Most people probably sleep somewhere between 7 to 8 hours, but a lot of people just can't get that amount of sleep. What this study is saying is, if you're regular in terms of when you go to bed and when you get up, that is actually better than trying to get that irreverent eight hours sleep."
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
From RTÉ Radio 1's Drivetime, why thinking you've had a good night's sleep is more important for your mood than actually having one
What if you're someone who has a regular bedtime, but it's after midnight? Is that good or bad? "It's kind of apples and oranges at that point," says Curtis. "They say an hour or two before midnight is better than, you know, two hours afterwards. Trying to get to bed before midnight is better for you. Shift workers, for example, they might have regular sleep patterns, getting to bed at 9:00 AM and not waking up until two or three in the afternoon. That's not good. It has to be during the night time."
"We can oversleep and that's detrimental to your health as well," she says. "It just shows that routine is really good. We sort of knew that. You can't do one thing during the week and do another thing at the weekend. You can't catch up on your sleep. Regularity trumps catch-ups."
