Too little or too much sleep is bad for mental health, research shows.

As a result of too little or too much sleep, mental health is greatly affected and the risk of various serious diseases increases.

This was revealed in a medical study in the United States. A Yale School of Medicine study found that too little or too much sleep results in changes in the brain that increase the risk of diseases like stroke and dementia.

The study involved 40,000 healthy middle-aged people and examined the effects of their sleep habits on mental health.

For this purpose, white matter hyperintensities (WAH) of the brains of these individuals were observed, which gives knowledge about the increase in brain age.

Similarly, fractional anisotropy was found to increase the risk of brain diseases.

If the volume and amount of WMH in the brain increases while the level of fractional anisotropy decreases, the risk of stroke and dementia increases.

The study found that sleeping less than 7 hours or more than 9 hours increased the amount and volume of WMH while decreasing the level of fractional anisotropy.

The results show that sleep is very important for mental health, the researchers said. The findings also suggest that sleep quality and duration may be an indicator of mental health risks later in life, he added.

According to the researchers, diseases like stroke or dementia are the end of a long process and that is why we want to know how it is possible to prevent this process from starting.

He said that middle age is a critical time in our lives when it is necessary to adopt healthy sleep habits to support mental health.

The results of this study were published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.