Health experts often stress on the importance of getting adequate sleep for overall well-being of an individual. Not getting enough sleep of sleeping too much are both detrimental to our health and a new study has just confirmed this fact. The study, which was conducted by researchers at Seoul National University College of Medicine says that getting less than six hours of sleep puts you at risk of a range of health diseases, including diabetes, heart ailments, stroke and an early death. According to the study, the risk is high even for people who sleep for more than 10 hours in a day. The study was conducted by including medical data from 130,000 Korean men and women, between the ages of 40 and 69 and was published in the journal
BMC Public Health.
The study warned against increased risks of metabolic syndrome in people who slept for less than six hours and more 10 hours. The researchers determined that the optimum sleep duration that we should be aiming for, per day is eight hours. Metabolic syndrome is a condition characterized by high blood sugar and blood pressure, and increased levels of cholesterol, as well as excessive accumulation of fat around the waist region, leading to increased waistlines. Among the sample size, the researchers found that some 11 per cent of men and 13 per cent of women sleep less than six hours, while 1.5 per cent men and 1.7 per cent women were sleeping for more than 10 hours.
Talking about the study results, lead author of the study Claire E. Kim said,"This is the largest study examining a dose-response association between sleep duration and metabolic syndrome and its components separately for men and women. Because we were able to expand the sample of our previous study, we were able to detect associations between sleep and metabolic syndrome that were unnoticed before. We observed a potential gender difference between sleep duration and metabolic syndrome, with an association between metabolic syndrome and long sleep in women and metabolic syndrome and short sleep in men."
The study results showed that incidence of metabolic syndrome was high in Korea and from among the participants, 29 per cent of men and 24.5 per cent of women suffered from metabolic syndrome. This means that these people were diagnosed with at least three of the following conditions: elevated waist circumference, high triglyceride levels, low levels of 'good' cholesterol, hypertension, and high fasting blood sugar.
If you are someone who doesn't get adequate sleep, here are some foods that can help you sleep better:
1. Warm milk: Many people associate a glass of warm milk with a sound sleep and have testified to the drink's power in blessing them with a good night's sleep.
2. Cherries: A bowlful of cherries can help your brain produce melatonin, which regulates your sleep cycle.
3. Flaxseeds: The tryptophan present in flaxseeds is said to relieve anxiety and stress, leading to a sound sleep.
4. Bananas: They are packed with good carbs as well as potassium and magnesium, both of which are muscle relaxers.
5. Almonds: These are packed with magnesium, which has been associated with good quality sleep.