Now Even Sleep Can Kill You

Boston (dBTechno) - According to a new study, too much, or too little sleep can increase your risk of death.

Researchers from the University of Warwick in London examined more than 10,000 people aged 35-55 from 1985 and 1992-1993. They found that people who reduced their sleep time from 7 hours a night to just under 5 hours were 1.7 times more likely to die by the year 2004.

In comparison, people who increased their sleep to more than 8 hours a night were twice as likely to die by 2004, the researchers said.

Researchers looked into several possible factors for the increase including, sex, marital status, employment grade, smoking status, physical activity, alcohol consumption, self-rated health, body mass index, blood pressure, cholesterol, and other possible physical ailments.

Lead author Francesco Cappuccio said that previous studies have linked a lack of sleep to Type 2 diabetes, weight gain and high blood pressure. Researchers are not sure if more sleep causes any significant health problems.

“This change, largely the result of sleep curtailment to create more time for leisure and shift-work, has meant that reports of fatigue, tiredness and excessive daytime sleepiness are more common than a few decades ago. Sleep represents the daily process of physiological restitution and recovery, and lack of sleep has far-reaching effects,” Cappuccio said in the statement posted on the university’s website.

“Our findings indicate that consistently sleeping around 7 hours per night is optimal for health,” he said.