Why your quality of sleep is more important than the length of your snooze
GOOD sleep significantly boosts your happiness, scientists say.
Researchers found the quality of your kip is more important than the quantity.
The study surveyed 4,253 adults over three years to see how their wellbeing was affected by how well they felt they slept.
It found those who fell asleep within 15 minutes and didn’t wake up too many times were more likely to feel satisfied in life and be less stressed.
Michaela Kurdrnacova, of Charles University in Prague, said: “Better sleep means a better quality of life.
“While when we sleep and how long we sleep is important, individuals who have better quality sleep have a better quality of life, regardless of the time and length of sleep.”
The NHS recommends all adults aim to get between seven and nine hours of kip a night.
But some 45 per cent of Brits admitted to getting lower than the recommended time, according to a 2020 YouGov poll.
Research has shown missing out on sleep can boost your risk of a number of health conditions, including dementia, heart disease and stroke, as well as lowering your mood.
The latest study, published in Plos One, sought to find out how the quality of sleep impacts how happy people feel.
They asked adults about their life satisfaction, wellbeing, happiness, subjective health and work stress over three surveys in 2018, 2019 and 2020.
Participants were also asked about their quality of sleep, how long they dozed and what time they went to bed.
People who reported better sleep saw improvements on all five measures.
Professor Neil Walsh, of Liverpool John Moores University, said the findings “indicate a strong relationship between sleep quality and quality of life”.
He said: “An increasing body of scientific work indicates the one size fits all seven-to-eight hours of sleep each night for adults is not necessarily a requirement for everyone.
“Individual sleep needs matter too.
“These new findings support the recommendation that improving sleep quality may have beneficial effects on clinical health outcomes.”