Sleeping for more than eight hours each night increases risk of early death, study finds

Brits can enjoy an hour-long lie in as the clocks go back on October 27
Shutterstock / Olena Yakobchuk
Tom Powell7 August 2018

Sleeping for more than eight hours a night could lead to an early death, new research has found.

Experts said that people who sleep for more than eight hours have a greater mortality risk than those whole sleep for less than seven.

Scientists found those who slept for 10 hours each night were 30 per cent more likely to die prematurely than those who slept for eight.

The researchers, who looked at data from 74 studies involving more than three million people, said excessive sleep could be a “marker” of poor health.

The study suggested that people who sleep for too long could be getting too little exercise, or are already suffering from undiagnosed problems.

Staying in bed for more than 10 hours was linked to a 56 per cent increased risk of death from stroke and a 49 per cent increased risk of death from cardiovascular disease.

Poor sleep quality was associated with a 44 per cent increase in coronary heart disease, according to the study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

Lead researcher Dr Chun Shing Kwok, of Keele University's Institute for Science and Technology in Medicine, said: "Abnormal sleep is a marker of elevated cardiovascular risk and greater consideration should be given in exploring both duration and sleep quality during patient consultations.

"There are cultural, social, psychological, behavioural, pathophysiological and environmental influences on our sleep such as the need to care for children or family members, irregular working shift patterns, physical or mental illness, and the 24-hour availability of commodities in modern society."

The study also involved researchers from the universities of Leeds, Manchester and East Anglia.

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