You likely already know how important a good night’s sleep is to our brain health and alertness.
But it can be hard to work out exactly what constitutes a decent kip ― after all, the eight-hour rule has proven to be a little too generalised .
Still, researchers from Baylor University recently found that sleeping for a set amount of extra minutes per night positively contributed to participants’ overall well-being, pro-sociability, gratitude, resilience, and “flourishing.”
The study, published in the Journal of Positive Psychology, measured both the adverse effects of a lack of sleep and the benefits of catching a few more Zzzzs.
The study, which randomly assigned bedtimes to a group of 90 younger people, found that the extended sleep benefited participants, while reduced sleep seemed to damage their well-being.
“We saw that people who increased their sleep by 46 minutes a night ended up feeling more resilience, gratitude, life satisfaction, and purpose in life,” the study’s principal investigator Dr Michael K. Scullin, associate professor of psychology and neuroscience at Baylor University, shared on the college’s site.
People were also more charitable and pro-social after the 46-minute extension than they were otherwise.
This seems to confirm a separate study conducted by the team found that those who had a good-quality sleep that lasted from seven to nine hours were 7-45% more likely to donate to charity.
However, Dr Scullin added that “When people were cut back on sleep by a mild average of 37 minutes a night, they experienced drops in mood, resilience, flourishing and gratitude.”
It might be tough to simply stitch a 46-minute sleep extension onto your existing routine, and there’s no reason to believe the number is hard and fast ― it’s just the amount that the people in the “extended sleep” part of this study kipped more for.
But sleeping more, especially if you’re not getting enough shut-eye, makes us “happier, healthier, and safer,” the American Psychological Association says.
The NHS offers tips on keeping good “sleep hygiene,” ensuring your sleeping environment is optimal and getting your diet and activity levels right for the best night’s sleep possible.
In the meantime, though, don’t feel bad for not setting your alarm earlier than you have to ― you’re making yourself more generous, grateful, and resilient.
