How many hours of sleep can a day prevent life-threatening chronic diseases?

 How many hours of sleep can a day prevent life-threatening chronic diseases?

In middle age, people who sleep 5 hours or less have an increased risk of several chronic diseases. A study published in the journal PLOS Medicine examined 8,000 British civil servants who had not been diagnosed with any chronic illness until the age of 50.

Their sleep duration was determined at that time, and then these individuals were reviewed for 25 years.

During this period they were asked several times how long they slept each night.

The results showed that in people aged 50 and over if their sleep duration was 5 hours or less, their risk of several chronic diseases increased by 30% over time.

At the age of 60, the risk of developing these diseases increases to 32% and at the age of 70, it increases to 40%. It has been proven in earlier research reports that people who sleep less than 7 hours have a higher risk of chronic diseases.

The researchers involved in the new study acknowledge that their work is somewhat limited because it relied on self-reported data.

But they said there is a link between short sleep duration in middle age and the risk of chronic diseases in old age.

He added that the results show the importance of good sleep and that at least 7 hours of sleep can significantly reduce the risk of chronic diseases.