It used to be a badge of honor for high achievers to say they barely slept.
Now, studies show that sleeping less than seven hours will almost certainly lead to an early death.
The risks of developing heart disease, obesityand deaths increase by 83 percent, 82 percent and 40 percent, respectively.
And yet, an alarming one in three adults in the United States suffer from sleep deprivation.
Meanwhile, more recent research shows that sleeping too much — about nine hours or more — is linked to a 74 percent increased risk of death, 12 percent increased risk of stroke, and 37 percent increased risk of obesity.
The solid line in this graph represents the average risk of dying (Y axis) as a function of sleep duration (X axis). The dashed line represents confidence intervals, which provide a range within which scientists can be confident that the true risk of death lies.
The chart shows that sleeping less than six hours greatly increases the risk of chronic diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and stroke.
The consensus for the vast majority of American adults is that the ideal amount of sleep is between seven and eight hours.
However, about 0.5 percent of the population has a rare genetic mutation that allows a person to function on between four and six hours of sleep.
But for the rest of us, the risks of death from all causes are compounded when we get sick. less than six and more than eight or nine a night.
Charts showing the harms of unhealthy sleep (too little or too much) indicate that there is a high risk of suffering from a variety of health problems with six hours or less of sleep.
The same goes for sleeping more than eight hours: the risks increase with each additional hour we spend sleeping.
People who sleep very little are 14 percent more likely have depression, around 108 percent more likely Having anxiety has a 37 percent higher risk of obesity and a 12 percent higher risk of stroke.
They have a 38 percent increased risk of heart disease, a 29 percent higher risk high blood pressure, yy 23 percent higher risk of diabetes.
In 2017, An analysis of 40 studies A study of the risk of death from all causes related to sleep duration found that both very short and very long sleep durations were associated with an increased risk of death compared with sleeping approximately 7 hours.
Sleeping between four and six hours increases the risk of death by four to six percent.
Sleeping eight hours increased the risk of death by three percent, nine hours by 13 percent, ten hours by 25 percent and 11 hours of 38 percent.
Another analysis in 2010 by researchers in the United Kingdom and Italy looked at 16 studies involving nearly 1.4 million people.
They found that people who sleep less than the average of seven hours a night had a 12 percent higher risk of dying compared to those who slept the ideal seven or eight hours.
People who slept more than the average (eight or nine hours) had a 30 percent risk of dying compared to those who slept the ideal amount.
The graph shows the results of seven meta-analyses looking at the relationship between sleep duration and stroke risk. All seven analyses reported a significant increase in stroke incidence in both short and long sleepers.
And in 2022, a group of Chinese scientists studied the risk of death from all causes associated with sleeping between five or less and more than nine hours per night.
Researchers found that sleeping less than five hours a day made people 40 percent more likely to die from any cause, while sleeping more than nine hours a day made them more than 74 percent more likely to die. percent more likely Die from any cause.
They studied more than 25,000 American adults who had different sleep habits and lifestyle factors that contribute to both sleep deprivation and chronic disease.
A U-shaped relationship was found between sleep duration and all-cause mortality, with the lowest risk being 7 hours per day.
They also found that sleeping too little or too much doubled the risk of heart problems.
Dr Chris Winter, a sleep neurologist in Virginia, told Dailymail.com that the reasons for the link between sleep deprivation and heart problems are “likely multifactorial.”
He said sleeping too little or too much causes the nervous system to malfunction, causing higher heart rate, high blood pressure and elevated stress levels.
Lack of sleep can also exacerbate inflammation in the body, a well-known risk factor for cardiovascular disease, stroke, dementia, and autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis.
Weight and metabolism are also affected when a person sleeps too much or too poorly, as diet tends to be affected. The effects of sleep on hormones make people more likely to make less healthy food choices.
Getting too much or too little sleep — typically six hours or less and nine hours or more — is linked to an increased risk of death from all causes, including deaths from heart disease and stroke.
Dr. Beth Frates, director of lifestyle and wellness medicine in the Department of Surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital, saying‘Most people focus on exercise and diet when it comes to weight management and heart health, but few focus on sleep.
“Working to find ways to improve sleep hygiene may help people extend their sleep time to the recommended seven to nine hours per night. This, in turn, could lead to consuming fewer calories and even weight loss in people who fall into the overweight category based on BMI.”
In another study examining heart health risk published in the journal Journal of the American Heart AssociationResearchers found that middle-aged adults with conditions such as high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, heart disease or stroke may face a higher risk of cancer and premature death if they sleep less than six hours a night.
They studied more than 1,600 adults between the ages of 20 and 74, focusing on those with high blood pressure, diabetes, existing heart disease and a history of stroke.
They underwent sleep studies in a laboratory between 1991 and 1998, and their causes of death were then tracked until the end of 2016.
During the study period, 512 people died, one-third of whom died of a heart attack or stroke, while a quarter died of cancer.
People with high blood pressure or diabetes who slept less than 6 hours had twice the risk of dying from heart disease or stroke compared to those who slept more.
And those with heart disease or a history of stroke who slept less than six hours were three times more likely to die from cancer.
Stroke risk is projected to increase about 18 percent for each additional hour of sleep above the optimal duration of around seven or eight.
Another study published last year estimated that sleep problems, such as sleeping too much or too little, quintuples the risk of suffering a stroke.
Dr. Phyllis Zee, director of the Center for Circadian and Sleep Medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, said: CNN‘Lack of sleep can impair the natural drop in blood pressure that occurs during nighttime sleep and contribute to hypertension, a major risk factor for stroke and cardiovascular disease.’
The effects of sleep deprivation can be felt immediately and after about three days of poor sleep, a person may develop hallucinations or psychosis.
It can also increase the risk of death from an accident or injury. Nearly 20 percent of all serious road traffic injuries among the general population are associated with driver drowsiness, regardless of the effects of alcohol.
Compared with drivers who had slept seven hours, those who reported sleeping less were 1.3 times more likely to have an accident, while those who slept between five and six hours were almost twice as likely crash.
And sleeping between four and five hours quadrupled the risk of suffering a serious accident.