It's well documented that a lack of sleep can be harmful to your health but did you know that oversleeping can be just as dangerous?
A new study has found that those who sleep for more than eight hours a night run just as big a risk of developing heart disease as those who sleep for less than four hours a night.
Researchers from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology collected information from 400,000 Taiwanese adults, aged 20 years and older, who had medical check-ups between 1994 and 2011. The participants were asked how long they slept each night, from zero to more than eight hours.
In a follow up, 711 of the participants had died of cardiovascular disease leading researchers to conclude that those who reported to sleep for more than eight hours were 35% more likely to develop heart disease compared to those who slept from six to eight hours. Those who slept for less than four hours a night were 34% more likely to die from the condition.
“We don’t know which mechanism can explain a direct causal link between long sleep duration and an increased risk of dying from coronary heart disease,” lead author Dr. Linn Beate Strand said in a statement.
Our results show that enough, but not too much sleep, is important for a healthy lifestyle,” he added.
The study was published in the March 2016 issue of the Cardiology journal.
Via RT
