Longer Sleep Has Positive Advantages

Researchers at Stanford University focused their latest study on the potential benefits of"sleep extension." The study involved 15 healthy college students who were required tosleep as much as possible over an extended period of time. As the participants got moresleep, measurements of reaction time, mood, and daytime alertness improved dramatically.Of the participants, 7 completed the study with scores of 20 on the Multiple Sleep LatencyTest. The test indicates maximum alertness and total sleep satiation, according to resultsreported in Sleep Medicine (September 2004).

Specifically, sleep duration increased from a baseline or prestudy average of 7.01 hours(measured by actigraphy and 7.45 hours by self-reported journal entries) to as much as9.37 hours (9.88 hours by journals) in the first days of extended sleep, and with "satiation,"averaging 8.15 hours (8.77 hours by journals).