Sleep Duration vs CV Outcomes

I truly believe in the Goldilocks theory of medicine - everything needs to be just right, not too much, not too little.  This is particularly evident when discussing hormonal optimization b/c what's right for one person isn't necessarily correct for someone else.  The same dose may be either too much or too little for another patient.

Interestingly, this also appears to apply to sleep duration versus heart disease and stroke as reported in an analysis released yesterday in the European Heart Journal of 15 prospective studies involving 24 cohort samples of 474,684 men & women followed for 7-25 years.  Both short duration of sleep and long duration were associated with a greater risk of heart disease and stroke.

We've had our suspicions regarding poor sleep quality for awhile especially when looking at the link between sleep apnea and heart disease.  But sleep quantity regardless of quality?  While we leave the researchers to ponder the association, the question on everyone's mind is just how much is the right amount?

It turns out that 7-8 hours/night was the reference and that short duration was <5-6 hours/night and long duration was >8-9 hours/night.  So for whatever the reason, maybe those lazy weekend mornings sleeping in aren't so good for us after all, and just maybe we need to set an alarm even on the weekends!