Too much sleep as bad as too little when it comes to your health

The latest research highlights the importance of a good night's sleep and says sleep, or the lack of it, can have significant implications for a person's health.

It seems that getting the right amount of sleep, seven to eight hours on a regular basis, may help prevent diabetes and also delay death.

A study by researchers from the University College Medical School in London, involved 10,308 British government workers, age between 35 and 55 years, who were followed for 12-17 years.

The researchers led by Dr. Jane Ferrie, found that death rates were higher for people who spent too much or too little time sleeping.

At the start of the study and half way through the workers were given checkups and completed a health survey which included questions about their typical hours of nightly sleep.

The researchers found that the death rate was higher for people who consistently got less than five hours of nightly sleep or more than nine hours of nightly sleep.

This was also true for people who started out with six to eight hours of nightly sleep but later got less sleep and for people who started out with seven to eight hours of nightly sleep but later got more sleep.

The researchers say factors including age, smoking, and BMI (body mass index) did not explain the results and they concluded that consistently sleeping 7 or 8 hours per night is optimal for health.

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) say in order to get a good nights sleep people should follow a consistent bedtime routine, establish a relaxing setting at bedtime, avoid foods or drinks that contain caffeine, as well as any medicine that has a stimulant, prior to bedtime.

They also advise against going to bed hungry, but avoiding a big meal before bedtime, as well as any rigorous exercise within six hours of bedtime.

The bedroom should be quiet, dark and cool and people should get up at the same time every morning.

The findings of the British study are supported by research from the U.S. which also found that sleeping too much or too little may make diabetes more likely.

This study was conducted by researchers at New York's Columbia University using data from nearly 9,000 U.S. adults.

At the start of the study none of the participants reported having diabetes but ten years down the line 430 had developed the disease.

The researchers say they found that the people most likely to develop diabetes were those who reported getting less than five hours or more than nine hours of nightly sleep at the study's start.

Such sleeping patterns raised the odds of getting diabetes by about 50%, compared with sleeping seven hours per night and the patterns were not affected by other diabetes risk factors.

The research is published in the latest edition of the journal SLEEP.