Sleep's sweet spot

A new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention links too little sleep (six hours or less) and too much sleep (10 or more hours) with chronic diseases -- including coronary heart disease, diabetes, anxiety and obesity -- in adults age 45 and older.

It's critical that adults aim for seven to nine hours of sleep each night to receive the health benefits of sleep, but this is especially true for those battling a chronic condition. Some of the relationships between unhealthy sleep durations and chronic diseases were partially explained by frequent mental distress and obesity.

In the study, published in the October issue of the Journal SLEEP, short sleepers reported a higher prevalence of coronary heart disease, stroke and diabetes, in addition to obesity and frequent mental distress, compared with optimal sleepers who reported sleeping seven to nine hours on average in a 24-hour period. The same was true for long sleepers, and the associations with coronary heart disease, stroke and diabetes were even more pronounced with more sleep.