If a person sleeps too much or doesn't get enough sleep, it could potentially lead to a cardiovascular disease. A new study showed that sleeping for more than 10 hours or less than six hours could increase a person's risk of an early death.
The study, that was conducted by researchers at Seoul National University College of Medicine, showed that men and women who sleep less than six hours are more likely to gain higher waist circumference.
Meanwhile, for women who sleep for more than 10 hours, the researchers found, are at a higher risk of developing at least three health conditions that could lead to an early death. This included high blood pressure and higher levels of fat or sugar in the blood. The scientists from the University obtained this information by studying over 130,000 between the ages of 40 and 69 years old.
The participants of the study were asked to state the average amount of hours they spent sleeping each day in the past year, this includes naps. The participants' blood, DNA, and urine samples were collected during the study.
Eight Is The Magic Number
The participants were considered to have metabolic syndrome if they had these following conditions: a large waistline, excessive blood sugar levels, low levels of good cholesterol, and high blood pressure. Metabolic syndrome is a mass of things that could lead to a person's risk of developing type 2 diabetes, stroke, or heart disease.
The lead author of the study, Claire E. Kim, stated that by the team expanding the sample from their previous studies, they were able to detect associations between sleep and metabolic syndrome that they were unable to see before.
"We observed a potential gender difference between sleep duration and metabolic syndrome, with an association between metabolic syndrome and long sleep in women and metabolic syndrome and short sleep in men," she continued. Previous studies have indicated that insufficient sleep or too much sleep could potentially cause inflammation in the body. This is also linked to metabolic syndrome.
The researchers noted that less sleep or too much sleep can affect people's sleep hormone, which can cause tumor growth. They continued that no sleep is associated with higher levels of copper levels in the blood, which can increase the risk of cancer. The researchers suggest that eight hours of sleep may be the best amount of sleep for a person.