Sleeping For More Than 8 Hours A Day Can Result In Premature Death- Study

If you have a habit of sleeping for more than 8 hours a day, this piece of news is sure to give you some stress. A new study has found that too much sleep is linked to a higher risk of heart problems and even a higher mortality risk.

According to a study conducted by a group of researchers at the Keele University, Newcastle, United Kingdom, people, who sleep for more than eight hours each night, are at a greater risk cardiovascular disease and mortality as compared to people who sleep for seven hours or less.

Study lead author, Chung Shing Kwok, said they went ahead with the study as they wanted to find out if it was more harmful to sleep below or beyond the recommended sleep duration of seven to eight hours. He said they also wanted to know how incremental deviation from recommended sleep duration altered risk of mortality and cardiovascular risk.

For the purpose of the study, the researchers analyzed the data of more than 3 million patients from 74 studies globally. They studied the link between self-reported sleep duration and quality, cardiovascular outcomes and mortality.

It was found that sleeping for 10 hours was associated with a 30 percent increased risk of dying prematurely as compared to sleeping for seven hours. Notably, an average of 10 hours of sleep also equated to a 56 percent increase in stroke mortality risk and a 49 percent increase in cardiovascular disease, mortality risk. Poor sleep quality was linked to a 44 percent increase in coronary heart disease rates.

The researchers claim that their study suggests abnormal sleep could be a marker of elevated cardiovascular risk.

“Sleep affects everyone,” said Kwok. “The amount and quality of our sleep is complex.”

Kwok suggested that doctors should take note of sleep duration as well as quality during patient consultations.

The research study has been published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.