These sleep habits can raise the risk of premature death by up to 29% 7 tips for better zs

If you’re getting eight hours of sleep a night, you’re doing bed-der than most.Adults are encouraged to snooze seven to nine hours for optimal health, but only 30% to 45% of Americans follow this recommendation.Poor sleep can raise the risk of dementia, heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, obesity and even certain cancers.Now there’s more bad news for insomniacs — a new study from Vanderbilt University reports that subpar sleep can increase the risk of premature death by up to 29%.“This study highlights the importance of maintaining healthy sleep over time,” sleep epidemiologist Dayna Johnson, who was not involved with the study, wrote in an accompanying editorial.“It also raises critical questions about the potential for recovery from insufficient sleep and the time required to reverse its effects on health outcomes,” she added.The researchers analyzed the sleep habits of nearly 47,000 low-income adults 40 to 79 years old.

Participants shared their average sleep duration five years apart.Sleep was deemed “healthy” if it lasted seven to nine hours, “short” if it was less than seven hours and “long” if it was more than nine hours.Sleep patterns fit into one of nine categories.“Short-long” meant the participant initially slept under seven hours a night before transitioning to nine-plus hours a night during the five-year period.About 66% of participants had substandard slumber — they either slept less than seven hours or more than nine at a time.The most common sleep patterns were “short-short,” “short-healthy” and “healthy-short.”“Short-short” and “healthy-short” participants were more likely to be women.Sleepers were followed for about 12 years.

More than 13,500 participants died during this time, including 4,100 from heart disease and 3,000 from cancer.Those with “short-long” or “long-short” sleep habits were at a particularly high risk for early death.Subscribe to our weekly Post Care newsletter! ...