Sleep is thought to have superb well being advantages – however how a lot shuteye is an excessive amount of?
The reply isn’t so easy, Dr. Chris Winter, a Virginia-based neurologist and sleep drugs specialist with Mattress Agency, advised Fox Information Digital.
“That is to some extent an inconceivable query to reply,” he wrote.
As with meals and different way of life elements, Winter defined that the perfect quantity of sleep is a “dynamic vary.”
“What’s an excessive amount of meals for me is perhaps an amazingly insufficient quantity for an Olympic swimmer,” he mentioned for instance.
For the typical grownup, sleep durations exceeding 11 to 12 hours can be thought of “an excessive amount of” and would begin “prompting questions on sleep high quality and sleep consistency,” Winter mentioned.
Whereas getting too little sleep could cause many detrimental results, an extra of slumber can pose dangers like sleep inertia, which is the sensation of grogginess that happens after sleeping in for too lengthy.
“For a lot of people, it’s much less about ‘an excessive amount of sleep’ and extra about compensatory sleep,” he mentioned.
“In different phrases, you bought insufficient sleep in the course of the week and try to ‘make up’ for the misplaced sleep on the weekend.”
Sleeping an excessive amount of frequently is extra a mirrored image of “insufficient sleep high quality” general, Winter mentioned.
Even so, the knowledgeable recommends catching up on sleep when there’s been a deficit.
“Research have proven that in the event you pay that sleep debt again shortly, it most likely retains the deficit from impacting your well being,” he mentioned.
“Whereas it ought to by no means be Plan A, making up misplaced sleep through napping or sleeping in, when potential, could be a good fallback plan.”
Though some research have urged detrimental well being outcomes from each insufficient and extreme sleep, Winter emphasised that it’s higher to get an excessive amount of sleep than not sufficient.
“Attempting to create consistency in sleep is essential, too,” he mentioned.
“Sleeping a special seven hours each evening isn’t almost as wholesome as sticking to the identical seven hours evening after evening.”
The Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention (CDC) recommends that adults get between seven and 9 hours of sleep per evening.
