Is Too Much Sleep Ruining Your Health? Here Are the Surprising Risks

UncategorizedMay 20, 2020

You need sleep just as much as we need food and air, but can too much of a good thing be bad for you? We’re already aware of the consequences of poor sleep: risk of heart disease, overeating, obesity, and memory loss, but there isn’t much known about the harmful effects of getting too much sleep.

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Sleep deprivation is a serious problem among adults with more than one-third of the population getting less than the recommended 7 hours of shut-eye, according to CDC’s sleep statistics. But on the other end of the spectrum, people who are getting way too much sleep aren’t doing their health any favors either.

There isn’t enough research about the adverse effects of sleeping excessively but according to a meta-analysis by the Journal of the American Heart Association, it can lead to a higher mortality rate in people. The study found that the risk of early death increases significantly with each hour you spend oversleeping. The risk of mortality in participants who slept 9 hours a night was 14% whereas those who slept 11 hours or more were 50% more likely to die an early death due to any health complication.

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But researchers often tend to overlook the risk of oversleeping because, given the day and age we live in, it’s quite uncommon for people to get more than 7 hours of shuteye during the workweek. Sleep is a luxury that most of us can’t afford on a regular basis, but it’s important to be mindful of how much you’re resting every night because it could be an indication of an underlying health issue.

The study has gone as far as to claim that oversleeping is far more dangerous than undersleeping and it can lead to complications like obesity, diabetes, and heart disease over time. Another research found evidence that people who are catching too many zzz’s had more C-reactive protein in their system which is an early indication of heart disease.

However, it is important to note that the correlation between sleep and high mortality risk doesn’t mean that these health problems are caused by oversleeping. It is very likely that people who oversleep generally have an unhealthy or sedentary lifestyle, which could be the cause behind the health risk.

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Doctors also warn that oversleeping is an indication of an underlying illness that is in preliminary stages. Obstructive sleep apnea is also a common culprit behind excessive sleeping which may lead to dangerous health issues down the line.