Sleeping Less Than 5 Hours Per Night Could Increase Your Risk of Chronic Disease, Study Shows - Blue Zones (2024)

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Sleeping Less Than 5 Hours Per Night Could Increase Your Risk of Chronic Disease, Study Shows - Blue Zones? ›

In terms of multimorbidity, or the co-occurrence of two or more chronic diseases in one person, the 50-70-year-old participants who slept for less than five hours had a 30-40 percent higher risk of multimorbidity.

Consistently getting less than 5 hours of sleep can have adverse effects on physical and mental health. Inadequate sleep can impact memory, mood, concentration, immunity, and overall quality of life.

A large new study published provides evidence that people 50 and older who sleep five hours or less at night have a greater risk of developing multiple chronic diseases as they age compared with peers who get a longer night's rest.

Diabetes—Studies have shown that people who reported sleeping fewer than five hours per night had a greatly increased risk of having or developing type 2 diabetes.³,⁴ Fortunately, studies have also found that improved sleep can positively influence blood sugar control and reduce the effects of type 2 diabetes.

Is 5 hours of sleep better than none? Five hours of sleep is better than none. But five hours of sleep isn't enough sleep in the long term. Most of us need about eight hours of sleep, and only getting five hours can lead to low energy, poor focus, and long-term health issues.

Musk told The Wall Street Journal in 2023 that he usually goes to bed around 3 a.m. and sleeps for six hours. So, he's typically waking up around 9 a.m. each day.

Sleeping fewer than seven hours regularly can negatively affect your body function. It may increase your risk of health issues, such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and a decline in thinking ability.

The studies discussed in this section suggest that sleep loss (less than 7 hours per night) may have wide-ranging effects on the cardiovascular, endocrine, immune, and nervous systems, including the following: Obesity in adults and children. Diabetes and impaired glucose tolerance. Cardiovascular disease and ...

Chronic sleep deprivation has been linked to kidney disease and health issues such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, and metabolic syndrome. Consistently cutting sleep short can raise a person's risk for heart health issues including high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke.

You may be able to survive on four hours of sleep, but you probably won't be even close to thriving. In the short term, sleeping for four hours can lead to: Daytime sleepiness. Reduced mental performance (research from 2018 found getting four hours of sleep had the same effect on cognition as aging eight years)

Can you live on 6 hours of sleep? ›

Is 6 hours of sleep good? Six hours of sleep is not good for most adults. Most of us need about eight hours of sleep, and some need even more. Only getting six hours of sleep can lead to low energy, impaired mental performance, poor mood, and health issues like weight gain, high blood pressure, and type 2 diabetes.

Short sleep duration (sleeping <7 hours per 24-hour period) is associated with an increased risk of chronic conditions (eg, obesity, diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, stroke, anxiety, depression) (1). Increasing the proportion of adults who get enough sleep is a Healthy People 2030 objective (2).

Sleep needs can vary from person to person, but in general, experts recommend that healthy adults get an average of 7 to 9 hours per night of shuteye. If you regularly need more than 8 or 9 hours of sleep per night to feel rested, it might be a sign of an sleep or medical problem, Gamaldo says.

Doctors recommend that most adults need seven to nine hours of sleep to maintain positive mental health. Sleeping for six hours or less can have many short-term and long-term detrimental effects on your body.

Reasons this might happen include drinking caffeine or alcohol late in the day, a poor sleep environment, a sleep disorder, or another health condition. When you can't get back to sleep quickly, you won't get enough quality sleep to keep you refreshed and healthy.

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) suggests seven or more hours of sleep per night for adults. Five hours of sleep is not enough for most people, and over the long term, that type of sleep deprivation can cause impairments to your physical, mental, and cognitive functions.

The vast majority of us need more than six hours of sleep to feel good and function at our best. Scientific research shows that the magic number for most people is 7-8 hours. If you answered yes to any of these questions, don't ignore the signs. If you're not getting enough sleep, you can take steps to improve it.

Four hours isn't enough sleep for most of us. A lack of sleep can lead to low energy and poor focus the next day, and chronic sleep deprivation can lead to everything from heart disease to obesity, so you don't want to make four hours a habit.”

For adults, getting less than seven hours of sleep a night on a regular basis has been linked with poor health, including weight gain, having a body mass index of 30 or higher, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, and depression.

You might have trouble learning, focusing, and reacting. Also, you might find it hard to judge other people's emotions and reactions. Sleep deficiency also can make you feel frustrated, cranky, or worried in social situations. The symptoms of sleep deficiency may differ between children and adults.