Sleep duration and cardiac death link seen in study

"A U.S. team provides more evidence that sleeping too little - or too much - may be bad for your heart. The investigators also noted that diabetes and hypertension may contribute to this relationship. Among 58,044 men and women 45 years of age or older without heart disease at study entry, those who slept 5 hours or less or 9 hours or more, were significantly more likely to die from cardiovascular disease over the next several years than people who logged 7 hours a night, Dr. Anoop Shankar of the West Virginia School of Medicine in Morgantown and colleagues found. These findings back the results of other studies that have suggested how long people sleep may be a key predictor of their heart disease risk, Shankar and his team report in the American Journal of Epidemiology" - Reuters