Too little sleep? Your heart might be at risk.
Associations of Accelerometer-measured Sleep Duration with Incident Cardiovascular Disease and Cardiovascular Mortality.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Sleeping more than 9 hours showed no increased risk of heart disease or death, despite common beliefs that long sleep is harmful.
Many prior studies and pop-science articles have linked long sleep to poor health, suggesting it’s a sign of underlying illness — but this study found no such association when sleep was objectively measured.
Practical Takeaways
Aim for 7–9 hours of sleep per night to reduce your risk of heart disease and heart-related death.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Sleeping more than 9 hours showed no increased risk of heart disease or death, despite common beliefs that long sleep is harmful.
Many prior studies and pop-science articles have linked long sleep to poor health, suggesting it’s a sign of underlying illness — but this study found no such association when sleep was objectively measured.
Practical Takeaways
Aim for 7–9 hours of sleep per night to reduce your risk of heart disease and heart-related death.
Publication
Journal
Sleep
Year
2024
Authors
Mingqing Zhou, Yan Liang, Sizhi Ai, H. Feng, Yujing Zhou, Yaping Liu, Jihui Zhang, Fujun Jia, B. Lei
Related Content
Claims (5)
If you sleep 8 to 9 hours every night, you’re less likely to have heart problems later on.
People who sleep less than 7 hours a night are more likely to develop heart problems or die from them compared to those who sleep 7 to 9 hours, based on wearable device data.
People who sleep more than 9 hours a night don’t seem to have a higher chance of heart problems or dying from heart issues than those who sleep 7 to 9 hours, at least based on how their sleep was tracked with a wrist device.
Getting between 7 and 9 hours of sleep each night seems to be the sweet spot for lowering your risk of heart problems — sleeping less or more than that might raise your risk.
People who sleep less than 7 hours a night are more likely to develop heart problems like heart attacks or irregular heartbeats than those who sleep 7 to 9 hours.