How Much Sleep Is Too Much?

Do you ever have those mornings where you feel like you could click the snooze button hundreds of times. Sleep is great. It re-energizes us for the next day, has many health benefits, and is just kind of fun to do. But how much sleep is too much sleep?

Sleep is different for everyone.Young adults around our age are usually recommended to sleep about 9 hours a day in order to keep our bodies healthy and running. But when we were younger we used to sleep the whole night, plus a couple naps here and there throughout the day, how come that was ok? Although the right amount of sleep can have good health benefits, too much sleep can be very risky for your health. Oversleeping could lead to obesity, depression and heart complications.

We all have to admit we have those lazy days in bed where we sleep all day, watch netflix and constantly snack. It is no shock that a large portion of people of all ages in the United States suffer from obesity. One can only imagine that with obesity comes, lack of exercise, lots of eating, and probably endless hours in bed. In a study,  it showed that people who slept more than the usual amount, around nine or more hours, were more likely to become obese by 21% than the people who slept the normal, healthy, recommended amount.

Depressions is something that effects a lot of people our age, especially in college. Usually one of the key signs to assuming if your friend is depressed or not is if instead of hanging out with your group of friends and being social, they spend nights in, and miss out on gatherings, and probably just end up staying in bed. In another study, it was shown that about 15% of people who sleep more than the recommended amount of about seven to eight hours are depressed.

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Lack of sleep can also lead to heart problems like high blood pressure and rate, but also sleeping too much can lead to heart complications. In a study, it was shown that of the 72,000 women involved, about 38% were likely to get heart disease if they overslept.

Sleep is all about finding the right amount. Don’t get me wrong, we all need those days once in a while to click the snooze button until almost 3 p.m., but that can’t be happening all the time. There are also downfalls to too much sleep that I didn’t mention in this blog post. For example, sleeping too much can lead to a reduced productivity rate. If you get up at 9 a.m. as opposed to 12 p.m. that is an extra three hours when you are more likely to get things done. For this reason, I personally set my alarm clock for 9 a.m. every morning. Before coming to college my mother told me to do this in order to get the most out of my days. I guess it has even more benefits that I thought originally! sleeping-man

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http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/guide/physical-side-effects-oversleeping#2

http://www.wikihow.com/Control-Your-Temper-While-Sleep-Deprived

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2 thoughts on “How Much Sleep Is Too Much?

  1. Evan Michael Wentzel

    This post is really interesting for me to read, because i just did a post of the effects of sleep deprivation, and surprisingly the effects are pretty similar. Not enough sleep can also increase risk of obesity and heart disease. In both our studies about these effects, they were unable to identify any clear mechanism which is intriguing to think about considering the putative casual variable is the same in both. Overall I’ve now realized it’s very important to stick to a healthy sleep cycle to avoid future health complications.

  2. Wencong Wang

    That is a great post! I like this topic. Yes, either lack of sleep or too much sleep can lead to a health problem. I usually feel uncomfortable just after lack of sleep or oversleep. I feel weak and without energy in my body. In my country, people always say doing something too much ot too little is bad for you, do it a appropriate amount is best for you. It is perfectly to apply on sleep. Also, I have a question about what you write about that sleep can lead to obesity. I heard that sleep can help people to loss weight. After see you say that, I did some research for sleep and weight gain. I found out that oversleep and lack of sleep can lead people gain weight, but appropriate amount of sleep can help people to lose weight. http://www.womenshealthmag.com/weight-loss/sleep-weight-loss
    Here is a article explained that the 6 ways sleep help people to lose weight.
    I totally agree with you said that sleep need to have the right amount! The right amount can benifit you health, otherwise it will hurt your body.

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