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Study: Waking Up One Hour Earlier Reduces Depression Risk by 23 Percent - Real Simple
Jun 11, 2021 1 min, 29 secs
A small shift in your sleep schedule could help boost your mood by double digits.

But even if you don't consider yourself an early riser, take note: New research suggests it may be worth adjusting your sleep schedule pretty minimally-setting your alarm clock for just a bit earlier in the mornings-to help fend off depression and maintain a brighter, more balanced mood.

And nothing crazy, either-all it takes is waking about one hour earlier to decrease one's depression risk, suggests the comprehensive genetic study, conducted by researchers at University of Colorado Boulder and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry.

"We have known for some time that there is a relationship between sleep timing and mood, but a question we often hear from clinicians is: How much earlier do we need to shift people to see a benefit?" said the study's senior author Celine Vetter, assistant professor of integrative physiology at CU Boulder.

"We found that even one-hour earlier sleep timing is associated with significantly lower risk of depression." .

One key takeaway: The average sleep midpoint (the halfway point between bedtime and wake time) among subjects was 3 a.m., implying the average subject went to bed at 11 p.m.

Daghlas's statistical analysis, every "one-hour earlier sleep midpoint corresponded with a 23 percent lower risk of major depressive disorder." So if your usual bedtime is 12 a.m., you could potentially cut your depression risk by 23 percent if you started going to bed at 11 p.m.

What's even more incredible: If you bump your sleep time up by two hours (so 10 p.m. in the above scenario), your risk of depression decreases by nearly double: about 40 percent.

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