5 hours of sleep is better than 8

[Jason S.]

6.5-7 hours is best. Of course we all know its the quality of the sleep that counts. This is probably old hat but:

http://thatshealthyliving.com/sleep.html

[Songbird]

It wasn't old hat to me, Jason. Thanks for posting it.


Years ago, when Willard Scott was the Today show's weatherman, not only did he celebrate people's 100th birthdays, he also interviewed the birthday "kids." The one thing that struck me about it was when he'd ask them what they'd done to keep living so long, almost every single one said he/she got up early every day (extremely bad news for this nightowl) and had some kind of daily activity to look forward to.... Not necessarily hard, physical labor, but something that engaged their minds and helped to make their lives more productive, interesting, etc. Perhaps the eight or more hours of nightly sleep is indicative of other things, like NOT having something to look forward to in the coming day. If so, that would make sense, since we know that emotional troubles often spill over into the physical realm. I have no idea if that's what's in play with the "long sleepers" not surviving as long as those getting 6 or 7 hours, but I find the question fascinating.... just throwing the idea out.

Marsha

[Hawthorne]

I am curious as to why you titled your post "5 hours of sleep is better than 8" when the article states that 6-7 hours is the optimal amount of sleep.

[Jason S.]

I am curious as to why you titled your post "5 hours of sleep is better than 8" when the article states that 6-7 hours is the optimal amount of sleep.

Because its a more titilating title than "6.5 hours of sleep is optimal". That's why!

[Jason S.]

I don't feel good with 8 or more. 6-7 is more in my wheelhouse.

[Hawthorne]

I guess it's more titilating ----or confusing, as it was to me????? Whichever, it did prompt me to read it!

I did appreciate you posting the link to the article. I wake up, without an alarm or anything, after somewhere between 6 and 7 hours of sleep as well. The article made me feel good about that! Anything less or more, for me, and I don't feel so great either.

[Cajunman]

Great article Jason. I too seem to feel much better on weekdays when I get about 7 hours of sleep than when I'm off on the weekends, and sleep longer. I was always curious about that ... guess there is a physical reason somehow for that effect.

[OutaSync]

Without an alarm to wake me, I easily sleep 10-12 hours. Since I wake up so many times during the night, I feel I need the extra hours.

[riverdreamer]

I do medical research for a living. I know that the study says they compared people with similar medical histories, but there is nothing in that article that proves that the people sleeping longer don't sleep longer BECAUSE they have more medical issues than the people who sleep for less time. In other words, sleeping longer may be an effect of their health, not a cause. Without reading the complete study, with details on how things were classified, it is impossible to make any judgements.
A few years ago there was a big announcement that people who had taken antibiotics, especially chronically, had higher death rates than those who didn't. The conclusion was that taking antibiotics increased chances of death. Reading the study carefully, it was not taking into account that people are taking antibiotics for a reason, and that maybe the people taking antibiotics had a higher death rate because of the conditions requiring the antibiotics, not because of the antibiotics themselves.
I don't know what the answer is about sleeping, but I don't think you can judge just by this article.

Sorry, Jason S!

[TSSleepy]

Thank you riverdreamer! As an ex-scientist, I am routinely discouraged by the way the media reports science/research. The "Sleep less, live longer?" title is misleading and irresponsible.

Fortunately the reporter did add to the article the disclaimer:
"Although the data indicated the highest mortality rates with long-duration sleep, the study could not explain the causes or reasons for this association."

The title of this article almost implies that if you average 8+ hours of sleep, you should try to force yourself to sleep less to be healthier and live longer. But we can't know what would have happened to the folks averaging 8+ hours/night if they had slept 6 hours/night. They may have died even faster!

What I take away from this study is that if people are sleeping more than 8 hours per night, they should ask themselves if there is a valid reason for it. Maybe they have an undiagnosed condition, like... sleep apnea!