If you're worried about not getting enough sleep, you can probably rest easy. A , suggests聽that聽people are not only getting enough sleep, but聽they have been聽consistently聽for the last 50 years.
Sleep researchers聽analyzed data from 168 objective (as opposed to self-reported) studies between the years of聽1960 and聽2013. Sleep data聽from over 6,000 healthy adults indicated that聽the common idea聽that there's a modern聽widespread sleep deficit聽just isn't right.
Over the past five years, there's been . We've heard about its health benefits,聽from improved learning and聽emotional well being to a healthier heart and a lower risk of obesity, . And other聽major health organizations, , have drawn our聽attention to the public problem of sleep deprivation, .
“We hear the message so often about how we don鈥檛 get enough sleep that I think many people become concerned about it,” Shawn Youngstedt, lead researcher of the new paper told聽国产吃瓜黑料聽in an email.聽“Ironically, this message probably contributes to insomnia, which can be triggered or exacerbated by excessive worrying about sleep.”
Our sleep paranoia could be leading to a different unhealthy trend, according to聽Youngstedt.聽The risks of getting too much sleep鈥攎ore than eight聽hours of reported sleep鈥攁re at least as great as the risks of not getting enough sleep鈥攍ess than six聽hours of reported sleep鈥攁nd some studies indicate that it's more common to get a lot of sleep than it is to sleep too聽little.
“So, from a public health perspective, long sleep might be a greater concern,”聽Youngstedt wrote.聽“Just like one can get too much water,聽sunlight,聽vitamins, or food, there are dozens of studies which suggest that one can get too much sleep.”
The bottom line? Shoot for between six and eight hours of sleep each night, and don't obsess about not getting enough of it.
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