More than 8 hours sleep each night is bad for you
Main Category:
Sleep / Sleep Disorders News
Article Date: 16 Apr 2004 - 0:00 PDT
According to researchers, more than 8 hours sleep each night is bad for you. We have all known that too little sleep is bad for you, this study suggests that the opposite is also bad.
According to the researchers at the University of California, those who sleep 9-10 hours a night seem to have more problems, ranging from difficulty in falling asleep, staying asleep, plus a whole load of other problems.
It seems that those who sleep eight hours have the least problems. Those who sleep 7 hours each night also had problems falling asleep and waking up feeling full of beans.
Previous studies have focussed on too little sleep. Some previous studies have suggested that too little sleep (less than 7 hours each night) reduces your life expectancy.
In this study, 1004 adults had to answer a sleep questionnaire. The questions asked how many hours they slept each night (it was an ongoing questionnaire), whether they found it easy to fall asleep, did they wake during the night, did they wake up early in the morning and could they not get back to sleep again, did they suffer from fatigue during the day.
Those who slept too much were more likely to experience all the problems on the questionnaire than those who slept eight hours each night.
One of the researchers said that people who sleep too much find it hard to rest at night because they spend too much time in bed. He suggested one way to get rid of insomnia is to spend less time in bed.
He suggested that there might be a link between sleeping long hours and depression.
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How Much Sleep Do You Really Need? Although many factors influence how much sleep you really need, the common recommendation is eight hours a night. But individual needs vary greatly. By Michael Breus, PhD, D, ABSM
WebMD Feature Reviewed By
Stuart Meyers, MD
Although many factors influence how much sleep you really need, most young adults report sleeping about seven and a half hours on weekday nights and eight and a half hours on weekend nights. And the common recommendation is eight hours a night. But individual needs vary greatly. There are so-called short-sleepers and long-sleepers -- those who need as little as five and a half hours to as much as about nine and a half hours.
How much sleep you require depends on several factors including:
- Your inherited genetic need
- Your sleep hygiene (those daily activities you control, from drinking coffee or alcohol to smoking and exercise)
- The quality of your sleep
- Your 24-hour daily cycle known as the circadian rhythm
For example, smoking, drinking, and exercise can affect your sleep dramatically. What you actually do in bed (like reading or watching TV) and how much exposure to light you have (looking at that bright computer screen 'til midnight) will also significantly alter both the quality and quantity of your sleep. They all interact to determine how long you need to sleep to wake up feeling refreshed and remain alert throughout the day.
How did we get the age-old recommendation that we need a solid eight hours of sleep? In a classic study, researchers placed a volunteer in windowless, light-controlled room for 30 days. The light was on for 16 hours and off for eight hours, but the study participant could also turn the lights on and off at will.
Before the experiment began, the subject routinely got about six and a half hours of sleep. During the first night of the experiment he slept eight hours, the second night 10 hours, the third night 12 hours, and the fourth night 14 hours. Over the next several days, he began to reduce the number of hours slept, eventually falling to a steady eight hours and 13 minutes. This experiment was performed repeatedly with all types of people, with similar results, and this is where the recommendation of eight hours comes from.
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What do doctors mean when they say "get plenty of sleep"? How many hours of sleep are enough for good health?
- Jennifer / Minnesota
Mayo Clinic general health specialist
Kenneth Berge, M.D., and colleagues answer select questions from readers.
Answer
The amount of sleep you need depends on many factors, especially your age. Newborns sleep between 16 and 18 hours a day and preschool children should sleep between 10 and 12 hours. Older children and teens need at least nine hours to be well rested. For most adults, seven to eight hours a night appears to the best amount of sleep. However, for some people, "enough sleep" may be as few as five hours or as many as 10 hours of sleep.
As you get older, your sleeping patterns change. Older adults tend to sleep more lightly and awaken more frequently in the night than younger adults. This can have many causes including medical conditions and medications used to treat them. But there's no evidence that older adults need less sleep than younger adults.
Getting enough sleep is important to your health because it boosts your immune system, which makes your body better able to fight disease. Sleep is necessary for your nervous system to work properly. Too little sleep makes you drowsy and unable to concentrate. It also impairs memory and physical performance.
So how many hours of sleep are enough for you? Experts say that if you feel drowsy during the day — even during boring activities — you are not getting enough sleep. Also, quality of sleep is just as important as quantity. People whose sleep is frequently interrupted or cut short are not getting quality sleep.
If you experience frequent daytime sleepiness, even after increasing the amount of quality sleep you get, talk to your doctor. He or she may be able to identify the cause of sleep problems and offer advice on how to get a better night's sleep.
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