Less than six hours sleep a night can cause a premature death

UK and Italian researchers have discovered people who regularly have less than six hours sleep a night were more likely to die over a 25-year period, than those who had the ideal six to eight hours of sleep.

Too much sleep was also found to be linked to premature death, with those sleeping for more than nine hours dying earlier, although this much sleep could be a marker of general ill health.

1.5 million people were included over 16 studies from the UK, US, Europe and East Asia.

Leader of the Sleep, Health and Society Programme at the UK’s University of Warwick Professor Francesco Cappucio said, ‘Modern society has seen a gradual reduction in the average amount of sleep people take and this pattern is more common amongst full-time workers, suggesting that it may be due to societal pressures for working longer hours and shift-work.’

Professor Cappucio said more research needs to be done to understand why sleep is so important for health. The study noted that previous research into lack of sleep had shown it was associated with disorders including heart disease, high blood pressure, obesity and diabetes.