WakeUpWorld March 9 2014
Sometimes small measures can have huge ramifications, either positive or negative. This proved to be the case in a recent British experiment involving getting one extra hour of sleep at night. The addition of an hour provided broad benefits, while the absence of the hour triggered a range of physiological processes that can adversely affect health.
Michael Mosley of the BBC reports that the amount of sleep people generally get has declined over the years, while the rates of diabetes and obesity have soared. After questioning whether the two trends could be related, he instigated a study to determine the effects of increasing sleep by one hour.
Scientists at the Sleep Research Centre in the University of Surrey studied seven volunteers who normally slept between six and nine hours per night. The participants were divided into two groups: one was asked to sleep 6.5 hours a night, while the other was asked to sleep 7.5 hours a night. After a week, the volunteers underwent blood tests and were asked to change patterns. Those who had been sleeping 6.5 hours were asked to sleep one hour more, and those who had been sleeping 7.5 hours were asked to sleep one hour less.