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Getting enough sleep is a critical part of staying fit and healthy, which is why scientists are constantly looking for ways to make sure this happens.
Now, a new study from India suggests that overtime in bed doesn’t mean much in terms of benefits, if there isn’t a corresponding increase in good quality sleep as well.
The research, which involved 452 low-income workers over the course of a month in Chennai, also found that an afternoon nap was more beneficial than an extra hour of sleep during the night – at least among study participants who had very disturbed nighttime sleep. .
The measurements were taken using actigraphs: small, wearable motion sensors capable of monitoring sleep cycles, which are becoming increasingly popular in scientific research. Actigraphers can take measurements while people are sleeping in their homes, without the need for additional equipment or complicated setup.
By providing information and encouragement, as well as improving home sleep environments, the researchers managed to get workers to sleep for almost half an extra hour each night, on average, but the health benefits expected did not follow.
“To our surprise, these nighttime sleep interventions had no positive effect on any of the outcomes we measured,” says economist Frank Schilbach of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
These results included cognition, productivity, decision making, and well-being. The average number of hours worked also fell – perhaps because more time in bed meant less time to work. The volunteers were engaged in data entry work designed purely for the study, where their attention and results could be measured.
It is important to point out the other conditions of the study as well. Those involved were only getting an average of 5.5 hours of sleep from eight hours in bed per night, before researchers could increase that figure.
By the end of the month of experimentation, workers were spending an additional 38 minutes per night in bed, which equated to an additional 27 minutes per night of actual sleep.
This low sleep efficiency appears to prevent the kind of deeper, more restful sleep that can be so beneficial for overall health. Much previous research has highlighted the consequences of not getting enough quality sleep every night, including an increased risk of dementia.
In their day-to-day lives, the volunteers included in the study tended to wake up about 31 times a night on average, the researchers note. In other words, their existing quality of sleep is comparable to that of a person in a wealthy country who has problems with insomnia or sleep apnea.
“In Chennai, you can see people sleeping on their rickshaws,” says Schilbach. “A lot of times there are four or five people sleeping in the same room where it’s loud and noisy, you see people sleeping between road segments next to a freeway.
“It is unbelievably hot even at night, and there are a lot of mosquitoes. Basically in Chennai you can find any irritating or unwanted factor for sleep.”
Half of the participants were also encouraged to take a half-hour nap during the day, which led to several positive results: improvements in productivity, cognitive function and psychological well-being were noted. .
Again, however, work time decreased – participants were unwilling or unable to make up for the time they spent napping, even though they were doing more work when they were. really at work.
Researchers say we need more studies like this in developing countries, rather than just in sleep labs in richer countries – and also warn against sleep studies applied too widely in the world. different nations and communities.
Future studies could focus on sleep quality rather than sleep duration, suggests the research team, while psychological factors – such as stress and worry often faced by low-income families – could also be taken into account.
“There isn’t a lot of work that studies people’s sleep in their daily lives,” says Schilbach. “And I really hope people will study sleep more in developing countries and poor countries, focusing on the results that people enjoy.”
The research was published in The Quarterly Journal of Economics.
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