According to recent medical research, people who sleep more than what the doctors recommend, which is eight hours, have a 46% higher risk of having a stroke, compared to those who sleep six to eight hours every night.
The new study was conducted by a team of researchers from the University of Cambridge and it involved more than 10,000 people, aged 62, who never had a stroke.
Seven out of ten of the participants slept an average of 6 to 8 hours, while one in 10 slept more than 8 hours a night.
The study revealed that those who spent more time sleeping had an increased risk of stroke by almost 46%
Yue Leng, one of the researchers who conducted the study, explained that there isn’t enough scientific evidence to prove whether sleeping more causes strokes or even that oversleeping is bad for our health.
The study does show that sleeping more could serve as an “early warning sign of increased stroke risk”, especially when talking about older people.
Professor Yue Leng said that although many studies have shown the dangers of getting too little sleep and how it can affect our health, not many things are known about sleeping too much.
The recent study suggests that sleeping too much could increase the risk of having a stroke, but that does not necessarily mean it’s what causes it.
Dr. Nathaniel Watson, president of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, stated that there is no scientific proof that an extended period of sleep is bad for our health.
According to Dr. Watson, people who sleep more than 8 hours per night may suffer from a serious illness, and sleeping too much could be a symptom of that illness, not the problem itself.
There is a wide range of health conditions that have been associated with irregular sleep, including heart disease, diabetes, sleep apnea and narcolepsy.
Although Dr. Yue said that adults should get 6 to 8 hours of sleep a night, according to Dr. Watson we should sleep an average of 7 to 9 hours.
The study was published in the journal Neurology.
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