This was discovered by a new scientific study that calculated the amount of sleep that reduces the risk of running into chronic health problems.
How many hours do you need to sleep to feel good? It depends on age and on several factors, although – as we all know – the recommended duration of night rest for young people and adults is around eight hours a night. A new study published in the journal Plos Medicine however, he discovered that it exists a minimal amount of sleep which we would do better not to escape. In other words, scholars have calculated the minimum number of hours that allows us to reduce the risk of running into health problems.
To arrive at quantifying the hours of sleep needed to stay healthy, the researchers used data from over 7,000 men and women over the age of 50 who were free of multimorbidity (two or more long-term health conditions) and participated in the Whitehall II study, a British study that followed UK civil servants for around 25 years. The scholars then examined the different clinical information gathered during the study period to look for links between duration of night sleep and the development of chronic diseases.
The analysis of the data showed that, compared to people who slept up to seven hours a night, those who slept less than five they had a significantly greater (approximately 30%) risk of multiple morbidities. Overall, people who slept less had a higher risk of developing first coronary heart disease and subsequently a higher risk of developing multimorbidity. They also noted that a sleep duration of less than five hours is associated with an increase 25% risk of mortality.
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The team then indicated that we should try to sleep around eight hours a night, but if that’s not possible, their new findings suggest that five hours they should really be the bare minimum to stay healthy.