Sleep Enough

6 hours of sleep used to be thought of as inadequate. But the results of a study done way back in 2002 seems to raise the question again of whether a night’s sleep of 6-plus hours for the average adult was at all inadequate, as has been widely thought.

According to Daniel Kripke, co-director of research at the Scripps Clinic Sleep Center based in California the findings of a study in 2002 on the death rates among more than 1 million American adults has shown that the death rates among people who slept between 6.5 and 7.5 hours a night was the lowest, and NOT among the group that slept longer hours. But the study also confirmed that people who slept less than 6.5 hours a night had shorter lifespans. Apparently, the results also appear similar to similar tests done in other countries around the world.

Although this study was actually meant for cancer research, it poses intriguing questions which still beget answers. As Kripke was quick to point out, the reasons are still unknown why people who slept 6.5-7.5 hours a night seemed to live the longest, because there were so many variables to consider, each with their own cause and effect. So Kripke concedes that there is still a lot of conjecture at this point, and it would take a while (plus plenty of tests) before medical science can actually piece together the data to get a clearer picture.

So, if you’ve been sleeping a little more than 6 hours a night, this piece of news might be somewhat of a relief. But there’s also a sensible reason why you should aim for more than just 6.5 hours of sleep. If you aim only for that amount of sleep, and therefore allocate only a limited amount of time to sleep, you could still wind up with less sleep than originally planned. Things like unexpected distractions, or problems, or events may occur to throw in a curve ball into your sleep time. It’s a good idea to allocate a margin for error, if you’re planning to go for the bare minimum.

Likewise, if you constantly feel worn out and tired with just 6 hours of sleep, and feel as if your body needs more, then don’t waste time referring to any study, just LISTEN to your body! No two humans are alike, and therefore your sleeping requirements would definitely not be the same as the person sitting next to you. So if you need more time to sleep, then it’s also a good thing to be in tune with your body and giving it the sleep it needs.