Sleep Research Uncovers Surprising Finding

Sleeping too much might cut your life short. A new study in the journal Nature conflicts with the idea that you need to sleep eight hours every night. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham has more:

Transcript

Sleeping too much might cut your life short. A new study in the journal Nature conflicts with the idea that you need to sleep eight hours every night. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham has more:

A study of one million people by the American Cancer Society turned up some interesting new findings on sleep. Psychiatrists at the University of California, San Diego found that people with the longest lives get only seven hours of sleep each night. Excessive sleeping might increase your risk of an early death by up to 15-percent according to the research. It also found the average American gets about six-and-a-half hours of sleep. According to the Nature article, critics point out that there are trade-offs to consider, such as lack of sleep making it easier to get sick, and people who don’t get enough sleep are sometimes cranky. However, scientists familiar with the study say more needs to be explored about excessive sleep and shortened lives.