A Study on Lack of Sleep

This is an article on Yahoo! that I got interested in :


from http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100505/hl_afp/healthsciencesleepbritainitaly#mwpphu-container

Lack of sleep linked to early death: study
AFP

Wed May 5, 9:44 am ET

LONDON (AFP) – People who get less than six hours sleep per night have an increased risk of dying prematurely, researchers said on Wednesday.

Those who slumbered for less than that amount of time were 12 percent more likely to die early, though researchers also found a link between sleeping more than nine hours and premature death.

"If you sleep little, you can develop diabetes, obesity, hypertension and high cholesterol," Francesco Cappuccio, who led research on the subject at Britain's University of Warwick, told AFP.

The study, conducted with the Federico II University in Naples, Italy, aggregated decade-long studies from around the world involving more than 1.3 million people and found "unequivocal evidence of the direct link" between lack of sleep and premature death.

"We think that the relation between little sleep and illness is due to a series of hormonal and metabolical mechanisms," Cappuccio said.

The findings of the study were published in the Sleep journal.

Cappuccio believes the duration of sleep is a public health issue and should be considered as a behavioural risk factor by doctors.

"Society pushes us to sleep less and less," Cappuccio said, adding that about 20 percent of the population in the United States and Britain sleeps less than five hours.

Sleeping less than six hours is "more common amongst full-time workers, suggesting that it may be due to societal pressures for longer working hours and more shift work"

The study also found a link between sleeping more than nine hours per night and premature death, but Cappuccio said oversleeping is more likely to be an effect of illness, rather than a cause.

"Doctors never ask how much one sleeps, but that could be an indicator that something is wrong," said Cappuccio, who heads the Sleep, Health and Society Programme at the University of Warwick.

Research showed no adverse effects for those sleeping between six and eight hours per day.


And here's some comments:

So what your telling me is that even though I feel better after just 4 hrs then i do with 8, and now I'm gonna die because of it. (Justin Wed May 05, 2010 07:10 am)

Why can't science just admit it's flawed and no matter what you do, you're still going to die? Just live life as best you can do and stop worrying about stupid things. It's all anybody ever asks. (Dragon Of Heaven Wed May 05, 2010 07:11 am)

ALL centenarians, when interviewed, repeat the same short list of advice:
Get plenty of rest.
Eat right.
Exercise regularly. (Rattle and Hum Wed May 05, 2010 07:31 am)

Let's all sleep ! (Taiyo Wed May 05, 2010 07:16 am)


---> So... I usually get only 4 to 5 hours of sleep a day during the regular semester. Does this mean I have to sleep more than that so I can live longer? Life today is really stressful. I should try sleeping earlier...if I can do that. I hope I can. I can do that...

for the sake of health. :)