Reported sleep duration reveals segmentation of the adult life-course into three phases
Reported sleep duration reveals segmentation of the adult life-course into three phases
Classically the human life-course is characterized by youth, middle age and old age. A wide range of biological, health and cognitive functions vary across this life-course. Here, using reported sleep duration from 730,187 participants across 63 countries, we find three distinct phases in the adult human life-course: early adulthood (19-33yrs), mid-adulthood (34-53yrs), and late adulthood (54+yrs). They appear stable across culture, gender, education and other demographics. During the third phase, where self-reported sleep duration increases with age, cognitive performance, as measured by spatial navigation, was found to have an inverted u-shape relationship with reported sleep duration: optimal performance peaks at 7 hours reported sleep. World-wide self-reported sleep duration patterns are geographically clustered, and are associated with economy, culture, and latitude.
Middle Aged, Adolescent, Adult, Humans, Sleep Duration, Time Factors, Sleep, Self Report, Cognition
Coutrot, A.
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Lazar, A.S.
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Richards, M.
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Manley, E.
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Wiener, J.M.
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Dalton, R.C.
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Hornberger, M.
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Spiers, H.J.
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13 December 2022
Coutrot, A.
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Lazar, A.S.
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Richards, M.
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Manley, E.
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Wiener, J.M.
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Dalton, R.C.
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Hornberger, M.
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Spiers, H.J.
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Coutrot, A., Lazar, A.S., Richards, M., Manley, E., Wiener, J.M., Dalton, R.C., Hornberger, M. and Spiers, H.J.
(2022)
Reported sleep duration reveals segmentation of the adult life-course into three phases.
Nature Communications, 13 (1), [7697].
(doi:10.1038/s41467-022-34624-8).
Abstract
Classically the human life-course is characterized by youth, middle age and old age. A wide range of biological, health and cognitive functions vary across this life-course. Here, using reported sleep duration from 730,187 participants across 63 countries, we find three distinct phases in the adult human life-course: early adulthood (19-33yrs), mid-adulthood (34-53yrs), and late adulthood (54+yrs). They appear stable across culture, gender, education and other demographics. During the third phase, where self-reported sleep duration increases with age, cognitive performance, as measured by spatial navigation, was found to have an inverted u-shape relationship with reported sleep duration: optimal performance peaks at 7 hours reported sleep. World-wide self-reported sleep duration patterns are geographically clustered, and are associated with economy, culture, and latitude.
Text
s41467-022-34624-8
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Accepted/In Press date: 1 November 2022
e-pub ahead of print date: 13 December 2022
Published date: 13 December 2022
Keywords:
Middle Aged, Adolescent, Adult, Humans, Sleep Duration, Time Factors, Sleep, Self Report, Cognition
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Local EPrints ID: 506473
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/506473
ISSN: 2041-1723
PURE UUID: 1928f407-aeec-4c37-be92-9ef1356752d2
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Date deposited: 10 Nov 2025 17:31
Last modified: 11 Nov 2025 03:10
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Contributors
Author:
A. Coutrot
Author:
M. Richards
Author:
E. Manley
Author:
J.M. Wiener
Author:
R.C. Dalton
Author:
M. Hornberger
Author:
H.J. Spiers
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