Is eight hours of sleep really the ideal for adults - or just a widely accepted myth?
In this episode of One Health Tweak a Week, we examine what decades of high-quality research reveal about the relationship between sleep duration and long-term health.
Drawing on meta-analyses and cohort studies involving millions of participants, we explore why seven hours of sleep per night may be more consistently linked to better outcomes than the traditional eight. Across multiple conditions - including cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, dementia, and all-cause mortality - the data show a U-shaped curve, with risk increasing at both ends of the sleep spectrum.
We also look at studies on sleep timing and regularity, including evidence that going to bed between 10 and 11 pm and waking around 6 to 7 am may align best with our internal clocks and reduce cardiometabolic risk.
This episode distils the clearest signals from a complex literature - helping you understand how much sleep is associated with healthier ageing, and why the answer might not be what you were told.
If you’d like to see the graphs discussed in this episode, have a look at this week’s newsletter.
