Nature study finds under 6 and over 8 hours harmful
A new study in Nature just found that getting less than 6 hours of sleep can actually raise your risk for diseases, and even lead to early death, while getting more than 8 hours of sleep can speed up aging.
Researchers looked at data from 500,000 people, checking out their sleep habits and organ scans.
Turns out, the sweet spot isn't a strict 8 hours for everyone; both too little and too much sleep can be harmful.
Wen backs 6 to 8 hours
Lead researcher Junhao Wen explained that different organs age at different rates depending on how much you sleep.
Even though most participants were of white European ancestry, the message is clear: aim for a steady 6 to 8 hours each night to help keep your body healthy long term.
As Wen put it, these findings are "I would treat this as guidance."