by Lisa Fillers

Created on: February 01, 2011

Though the human body requires sleep, too much of it can actually kill you.  In order for the body to function at peak performance and remain healthy a well balanced diet, including an ample amount of water, a daily exercise routine, and a proper amount of rest and sleep must be adhered to.  However, sleeping too much can be as unhealthy as not getting enough sleep.

According to statistics from the Cancer Prevention Study II, individuals who sleep an average of seven hours per night have a lower mortality rate than those who sleep eight or more hours.  The study questioned 1.1 million adults between the ages of 30 and 102 about their sleep duration and frequency of insomnia.  This matches data collected during its Cancer Prevention Study I taken in 1959 and published in 1964.  Those in the lowest mortality group slept between six and one-half hours and seven and one-half hours nightly.  Major mortality risk is associated with people who sleep eight hours or more per night and mortality statistics increase considerably in correlation to the amount of hours slept.

Too much sleep has been associated with major medical problems such as diabetes and heart disease.  Studies show that people who sleep less than five hours or sleep nine hours or more per night have a fifty percent greater risk of developing diabetes than those who slept seven hours.

Daniel F. Kripke, MD, a Professor of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego, presented findings of a sleep study at the 16th Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies.  He specified individuals who slept eight or more hours per night were twelve percent more likely to die within six years than those who slept seven hours.  The highest mortality rate occurred among men and women who slept more than eight and one-half hours per night. 

There are some medical problems that can cause a person to oversleep.  These include depression and sleep apnea, a condition which causes the body to abruptly stop breathing and interrupts the sleep pattern.  Those who suffer from sleep apnea often require naps during the daytime and may accidentally fall asleep.  Medications a person must take for other medical conditions may also cause drowsiness and increased periods of sleep.

Obesity has also been linked to sleeping too many hours and the association between the two remained the same even when food intake and exercise were taken

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