(NaturalHealth365)  How much of last night did you actually spend dreaming?  Most people have no idea.  Until recently, most sleep researchers didn’t either, since large studies relied on people guessing how well they slept.

Now, wrist trackers worn by more than 95,000 adults have put real numbers on those hours.  The results reach far beyond feeling rested in the morning, because one sleep stage lined up with lower risk for 83 separate diseases.

Dreaming sleep lines up with lower risk of 83 diseases

Researchers pulled UK Biobank data from 95,559 adults who wore wrist accelerometers for seven straight days and nights.  A computer program then sorted each night into REM, deep, and light sleep, along with wake-ups and shifting bedtimes.  Over a median follow-up of 8.9 years, the team checked those sleep patterns against more than 1,000 diseases in participants’ health records.

REM sleep, the stage when most dreaming happens, stood out above everything else.  For roughly every extra 48 minutes of REM, dementia risk fell by 46% and heart failure risk dropped by 26%.

Even more striking, Parkinson’s disease risk was 80% lower.

Deep sleep guards against diabetes and depression

Deep sleep told a smaller but still important story.  People who logged more of this slow, heavy sleep had a lower risk of seven conditions, including type 2 diabetes and major depression.  Interestingly, the body handles much of the physical repair and hormone balancing during deep sleep, so the link to blood sugar and mood makes sense.

Together, the two stages seem to divide the work of a good night.  Deep sleep tends to dominate the early hours, while REM grows longer toward morning.  In other words, an early alarm shortchanges the stage most tied to protection.

Broken, restless nights carry their own price

Total hours were only part of the picture.  Participants who woke up often during the night faced a higher risk of several conditions.  So did people whose schedules swung widely from night to night, with anxiety and substance use disorders on the list.

Sadly, irregular sleep has become “normal” for many people, mainly due to food-related issues and late night exposure to artificial light.  But, the undeniable truth is: your body craves rhythm, and constant shifts appear to leave an unwanted mark.

Six to eight hours hits the sweet spot for most adults

Sleep length followed a curve rather than a straight line.  For 69 of the 83 conditions tied to sleep duration, the lowest risk fell between six and eight hours a night.  Meanwhile, people sleeping fewer than five hours faced a higher risk of 37 different conditions, the worst showing in the entire study.

Because the researchers observed sleep rather than changing anyone’s habits, the findings show strong links rather than proof of cause.  Still, the group size and the use of real tracker data make the pattern hard to dismiss.  The authors themselves called six to eight hours a health safeguard for middle-aged and older adults.

Protecting your dream sleep starts before bedtime

Wake up at the same time every day, weekends included.  A steady wake-up time anchors your internal clock more reliably than a fixed bedtime.  Step outside for ten minutes of daylight soon after waking, since morning light starts the countdown to evening drowsiness.  Over a few weeks, falling asleep tends to get easier without much effort.

Guard the last two hours of the night.  Because REM sleep stretches longer toward morning, those final hours carry outsized value.  Skip alcohol in the evening, since alcohol is well known to suppress REM sleep, especially later in the night.  If you need an earlier alarm, move bedtime earlier rather than trimming the end.

Calm a racing mind with gentle herbs.  Chamomile, lemon balm, passionflower, and valerian root have long histories as evening teas.  In fact, research suggests valerian and chamomile can improve sleep quality for some people.  Pair a warm cup with magnesium-rich foods like pumpkin seeds, spinach, or wild-caught salmon at dinner.  Together, these create a slower wind-down than scrolling ever will.

Make the bedroom an ideal place for sleep.  Keep the room cool, dark, and quiet, and charge your phone in another room.  As fall evenings grow darker, dim your household lights after sunset to match.  Your body notices those cues, even when your mind is still busy.

Memory protection that begins after lights out

Nobody took a pill to earn a 46% lower dementia risk in this study, and that detail alone stands out.  If you’d like to protect your memory naturally, Jonathan Landsman’s Alzheimer’s and Dementia Summit reveals practical ways to improve brain health before symptoms appear.

Tonight’s sleep is a good place to start, and this program talks about what you can do at-home to protect your brain function.

Click here to own the Alzheimer’s and Dementia Summit today.

Sources for this article include:

Plos.org
Sciencedaily.com