Scientific theories indicate that the different hours of the day in terms of length and shortness, and the change in the periods of exposure to light during the year due to the different seasons, affect the periods and quality of human sleep.
However, a new scientific study conducted in Germany proved that humans sleep longer periods in winter compared to summer, and that hours of deep sleep decrease in autumn compared to the rest of the year.
In statements to the Medical Express website, which specializes in medical research, researcher Dieter Kunz from the Charité Medical University in Berlin says, "The study has shown that sleep in humans varies significantly across the seasons of the year, specifically for adults who live in urban areas." ".
The study, published in the scientific journal Frontiers in Neuroscience, included 292 patients with sleep disorders.
different sleeping hours
This group of volunteers was subjected to a multiple sleep test, which depends on measuring the changes that occur in the body during different hours of sleep.
The volunteers were asked to sleep normally without any stimulation, as the nature, quality and periods of their sleep were monitored.
The study showed that sleeping hours increase by an hour in winter compared to summer, and that the period of "rapid eye movement sleep" - a stage of sleep in which the human eye moves during sleep - is 30 minutes longer in winter compared to summer.
stages of sleep
There are two stages of sleep: the "rapid eye movement" stage associated with dreams, also known as the rapid sleep stage, and the "non-rapid eye movement" stage, in which sleep is deep and also known as the slow sleep stage.
Although the research team confirms the need for more research among volunteers who do not suffer from sleep disorders to confirm the validity of the results of this experiment, they believe that the effect of sleep on different seasons may be stronger in healthy people.