People who sleep less than 6 hours a day have an increased risk of premature death, according to an Italian-British study reported by Sleep. Conversely, sleeping too many hours each day may indicate the presence of a serious medical condition.
Researchers at Warwick University in Coventry, together with researchers at Frederick II University of Naples, came to such conclusions after analyzing data on sleep duration and mortality collected in 16 studies conducted in the US, UK, other European and East Asian countries.
In total, over 1,3 million participants, whose health and fate were followed for 25 years, took part in them.
The analysis revealed that people who slept less than 6 hours a night were 12 percent. more likely to die than people who sleep, the recommended 6-8 hours.
Conversely, too much sleep – meaning more than 9 hours of sleep each night – has proven to be an important indicator of a serious and potentially fatal medical condition.
Recent studies provide conclusive evidence that there is a direct link between sleeping too short and too long and an increased risk of health problems and death.
According to the co-author of the work, prof. Francesco Cappuccio from the University of Warwick, while too little sleep can cause ill health, too much sleep is a reflection of existing health problems.
Modern societies are experiencing a gradual reduction in the average length of sleep a person sleeps, a trend that is more widespread among full-time workers. This suggests that it may be due to social pressure to extend working hours and introduce more shift work. On the other hand, deteriorating health is often accompanied by prolonged sleep – comments Prof. Cappuccio.
According to the researcher, these results confirm the theory that sleeping 6-8 hours every night is optimal for health.
As emphasized by the authors of the study, sleep habits should be seen as one of those lifestyle elements that shape the risk of various diseases and death, but which we can influence. (PAP)