PEOPLE WHO SLEEP for more than eight hours a night have a greater mortality and cardiovascular risk than those who sleep less than seven hours, new research has found.

A sleep duration of 10 hours is linked with 30% increased risk of dying compared to sleeping for seven hours, the study also found.

The study, published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, examined the link between self-reported sleep and cardiovascular disease and mortality in more than 3,000,000 participants, looking at data from 74 studies.

The researchers found that a sleep duration of 10 hours is further linked to a 56% increased risk of stroke mortality and a 49% increased risk of cardiovascular disease mortality.

The study also found that poor sleep quality was associated with a 44% increase in coronary heart disease.

“Our study has an important public health impact in that it shows that excessive sleep is a marker of elevated cardiovascular risk,” lead researcher Dr Chun Shing Kwok of Keele University’s Institute for Science and Technology in Medicine said.

“Abnormal sleep is a marker of elevated cardiovascular risk and greater consideration should be given in exploring both duration and sleep quality during patient consultations,” he said.

“There are cultural, social, psychological, behavioural, pathophysiological and environmental influences on our sleep such as the need to care for children or family members, irregular working shift patterns, physical or mental illness, and the 24-hour availability of commodities in modern society.”