TUESDAY, Dec. 4, 2007 (HealthDay News) -- Too much or too little sleep can boost your risk of death, British researchers report.
"In terms of prevention, our findings indicate that consistently sleeping seven or eight hours a night is optimal for health," study author Jane E. Ferrie, of University College London Medical School, said in a prepared statement.
Her team studied more than 8,000 people, aged 35 to 55, who were followed for a number of years.
Among participants who slept six, seven or eight hours a night at the start of the study, a decrease in nightly sleep duration was associated with a 110 percent excess risk of cardiovascular-related death.
Similarly, among those who slept seven or eight hours per night at the start of the study, an increase in nightly sleep duration was associated with a 110 percent excess risk of non-cardiovascular death.
The study appears in the Dec. 1 issue of Sleep.
On average, most adults need seven to eight hours of sleep per night to feel well-rested and alert, according to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.
More information
The U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke has more about sleep.
