14 DAY TRIAL // Researchers in the US now claim that, as surprising as this may sound, sleeping a tad too much is at least as detrimental to one's wellbeing as not getting enough rest is.
In a recent issue of the journal Sleep, the specialists detail that people who sleep six or less hours per night and those who sleep for about 10 hours all have a higher risk of developing several potentially life-threatening medical conditions.
Specifically, these two categories of people are nearly as likely to suffer from obesity and anxiety, Daily Mail reports.
What's interesting is that, according to this paper, those who oversleep have higher chances to be diagnosed with heart disease and diabetes. Besides, they are more likely to suffer a stroke at some point in their lives.
The researchers base their claims on data collected while looking into the medical records of roughly 54,000 people living in the US.
All of the people taken into consideration for this study were over the age of 45 at the time when the researchers started monitoring their physical and mental health.
Of these people, nearly a third slept for about six hours or less each night. Two thirds displayed normal sleeping patterns, i.e. they clocked in between 7 – 9 hours of sleep.
The remainder was labeled as long sleepers, meaning that they slept for about 10 hours in a row on a daily basis.
In light of these findings, specialists recommend that adults over the age of 45 who feel that they are in poor health try to alleviate some of their symptoms by making sure that they get an appropriate amount of sleep.
“A healthy, balanced lifestyle is not limited to diet and fitness - when and how you sleep is just as important as what you eat or how you exercise,” sleep expert Dr. Safwan Badr said.
“It's critical that adults aim for seven to nine hours of sleep each night to receive the health benefits of sleep, but this is especially true for those battling a chronic condition,” he added.