How Sleep Can Kill. Huh, Sleep Kills Too?

In an earlier post, I explained how loneliness can kill. Now, it turns out too much sleep can lead to an early grave, reports CBC News.

A University of Warwick (UK) study found that people who increased from seven to eight hours of sleep also increased their mortality rate. According to study results, these folks were twice as likely to die over the next 20 years.

While scientists have a pretty good idea how too little sleep can kill (it’s linked to obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes), they haven’t studied how too much sleep can also be deadly. Who would’ve thunk too much of a good thing could kill?

Leading candidates are depression, low socioeconomic status and cancer-related fatigue, suggested one scientist. I’m not sure exactly what the connection there is. Maybe I’ll circle around on this in a later post.

For the record, researchers found 7 hours was the optimum amount of sleep for adults.