Scientists from Berlin University of Health found that in winter, you need to go to bed early, so the body gets a better rest.
The researchers wanted to find out how sleep is affected by the changing seasons. To do this, they invited 98 women and 90 men between the ages of 17 and 81 to participate in the experiment. All of them were diagnosed with a sleep disorder.
Each subject underwent a sleep study for three nights. Volunteers were prohibited from using alarm clocks. The windows of the laboratories in which the participants fell asleep were placed on the west or east side, except that they were either completely blinded or open.
It turned out that in winter, sleep lengthened by an average of 62 minutes. In the fall, the time period from the point of falling asleep to the rapid phase of sleep is reduced by 25 minutes compared to the spring, while in winter, on the contrary, it is increased by 30 minutes.
Slow-wave sleep, when the brain is fully rested, was stable in summer and winter, but decreased in fall.
After collecting the data, the scientists concluded that it is necessary to go to bed earlier in winter to feel better and get more rest.
The findings were published in the journal Frontiers in Neuroscience.