7 Hours Of Sleep May Be Optimal For Health

According to a study to investigate sleep patterns by Professor Franco Cappuccio, holder of the endowed Cephalon Chair in Cardiovascular Medicine and Epidemiology at Warwick Medical School in collaboration with with researchers at University College London 7 hours of sleep may be optimal for health.
Consistently sleeping less could have a detrimental effect on your health but apparently too much sleep may be as bad for us as too little.

A lack of sleep more than double the risk of death from cardiovascular disease, but too much sleep can also be linked to higher death rates.

They found those who had cut their sleeping from seven hours to five hours or less, faced a 1.7 fold increased risk of death from all causes, and twice the increased risk of death from a cardiovascular problem in particular.

To quote Dr Cappuccio and his co-author Dr Michelle Miller :

There is an expectation in today's society to fit more into our lives. The whole work/life balance struggle is causing too many of us to trade in precious sleeping time to ensure we complete all the jobs we believe are expected of us.
Chronic short sleep produces hormones and chemicals in the body which increase the risk of developing heart disease and strokes, and other conditions like high blood pressure and cholesterol, diabetes and obesity.
Sleep represents the daily process of physiological restitution and recovery, and lack of sleep has far-reaching effects.

I always thought that 8 hours of sleep was optimal, but apparently not so...

Too Much Sleep Can Also Lead To Sleep Problems

Sleep complaints were more common in both people who slept too much and too little, in contrast to those who slept for seven to eight hours at night.

According to a study by Michael A. Grandner, B.A., and Daniel F. Kripke, M.D., of the University of California, San Diego, too many hours in bed can cause as many sleep problems as too few.

Researchers found that people who slept too much, ie long sleepers, reported more problems with falling asleep, waking up during the night, awaking too early, feeling "unrefreshed" upon waking up, and feeling sleepy during the day than those who slept seven or eight hours.

Scientists know a lot more about problems associated with lack of sleep than they know about too much sleep, although some studies have shown a correlation between too much sleep and an increased risk of death in certain groups of people, according to Grandner and Kripke.

Grandner says that "Although it is unclear why long and short sleepers should have similar types of sleep complaints, these data challenge the assumption that more than seven or eight hours of sleep is associated with increased health and well-being,"