People who get six to nine hours of sleep each night rate their quality of life higher and are less likely to feel depressed than those who sleep less, according to a new study. The study examined the records of 10,654 patients, who were about age 52 on average, over a two-year period. After accounting for differences in the participants’ age, gender, race and marital status, researchers gathered information on their quality of life, feelings of depression and sleep duration. Among the findings, slated for presentation Tuesday at a meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies in Minneapolis, those with a “normal” night’s sleep of six to nine hours reported high scores for quality of life and lower scores for depression severity, compared to short sleepers (fewer than six hours of sleep) and long sleepers (more than nine hours of sleep).
