More Than 8 Hours Sleep Too Much of a Good Thing
Although the dangers of too little sleep are widely known£¬new research suggests that people who sleep too much may also suffer the consequences£®
Investigators at the University of California in San Diego found that people who clock up 9 or 10 hours each weeknight appear to have more trouble falling and staying asleep£¬as well as a number of other sleep problems£¬than people who sleep 8 hours a night£®People who slept only 7 hours each night also said they had more trouble falling asleep and feeling refreshed after a night¡¯s sleep than 8-hour sleepers£®
These findings, which DL Daniel Kripke reported in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine, demonstrate that people who want to get a good night¡¯s rest may not need to set aside¡£more than 8 hours a night£®He added that¡°it might be a good idea¡¯¡¯for people who sleep more than 8 hours each night to consider reducing the amount of time they spend in bed, but cautioned that more research is needed to confirm this£®
Previous studies have shown the potential dangers of chronic shortages of sleepÒ»for instance, one report demonstrated that people who habitually sleep less than 7 hours each night have a higher risk of dying within a fixed period than people who sleep more£®
For the current report£¬Kripke reviewed the responses of 1£¬004 adults to sleep questionnaires£¬in which participants indicated how much they slept during the Week and whether they experienced any sleep problems£®Sleep problems included waking in the middle of the night£¬arising early in the morning and being unable to fall back to sleep£¬and having fatigue interfere with day-to-day functioning£®
KriDke found that people who slept between 9 and 10 hours each night were more likely to report experiencing each sleep problem than people who slept 8 hours£®In an interview, Kripke noted that long sleepers may struggle to get rest at night simply because they spend too much time in bed£®As evidence£¬he added that one way to help insomnia is to spend less time in bed£®¡°It stands to reason that if a person spends too long a time in bed, then they¡¯ll spend a higher percentage of time awake£®¡±he said£®