Extreme sleep durations can worsen memory in later life: Reports

The study found women who slept five or fewer hours, or nine or more hours per day had worse memory

A new study has revealed that there is an association between midlife and later life sleeping habits with memory and extreme sleep durations can worsen memory in later life.

The study led by Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) found that women who slept five or fewer hours, or nine or more hours per day, either in midlife or later life, had worse memory, equivalent to nearly two additional years of age, than those sleeping seven hours per day.

It has also been revealed that women whose sleep duration changed by greater than two hours per day over time had worse memory than women with no change in sleep duration.

Elizabeth Devore, ScD, instructor in medicine in the Channing Division of Network Medicine at BWH, said that given the importance of preserving memory into later life, it is critical to identify modifiable factors, such as sleeping habits, that may help achieve this goal and their findings suggest that getting an 'average' amount of sleep, seven hours per day, may help maintain memory in later life and that clinical interventions based on sleep therapy should be examined for the prevention of cognitive impairment.

The study was published in The Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.