Sleeping more than eight hours raises heart disease risk
SLEEPING more than eight hours a night puts people at a higher risk of dying from heart disease than those who get seven hours or less, research reveals.
The global study led by Keele University in Staffordshire also found that people who sleep for more than 10 hours a night have an increased risk of dying from a stroke compared with those who get seven hours shut-eye.
The findings, published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, examined the link between self-reported sleep and dying from cardiovascular disease in more than three million people.
The researchers found that sleeping for 10 hours a night is linked to a 56 per cent increased risk of suffering a fatal stroke and a 49 per cent greater chance of dying from coronary heart disease.
The Keele team along with colleagues from the Universities of Manchester, Leeds and East Anglia looked at 74 studies and the link between cardiovascular disease, mortality and selfreported sleep duration and quality.
The results also found that sleeping badly was associated with a 44 per cent increase in coronary heart disease.
Lead researcher Dr Chun Shing Kwok, working with Professor Mamas Mamas at Keele University’s Institute for Science and Technology in Medicine, said: “This research began because we were interested to know if it was more harmful to sleep below or beyond the recommended sleep duration of seven to eight hours.
“We further wanted to know how incremental deviation from recommended sleep duration altered risk of mortality and cardiovascular risk.
“The important message is that abnormal sleep is a marker of elevated cardiovascular risk.
“Our findings have important implications as clinicians should have greater consideration for exploring sleep duration and quality during consultations.
“If excessive sleep patterns are found, particularly prolonged durations of eight hours or more, then clinicians should consider screening for adverse cardiovascular risk factors and obstructive sleep apnea which is a serious sleep disorder that occurs when a person’s breathing is interrupted during sleep.”
Dr Kwok added: “Sleep affects everyone and the amount and quality of our sleep is complex.
“There are cultural, social, psychological, behavioural and environmental influences on our sleep, such as caring for children or family members and irregular working shift patterns.”