Relationship between sleep duration and cardiovascular disease was investigated in this study using meta-analysis which included 11 prospective studies involving 1,000,541 adults without cardiovascular disease that had been published within the last 5 years broken into 2 groups: One short sleep group under 6 hours, long sleep over 8 hours duration, and were compared to a reference group of 6 to 8 hours.
Long and short duration sleepers were found to be at greater risk of developing or dying from coronary artery disease or stroke. Compared to the reference group short sleepers had 11% and long sleepers had 33% greater risks of either developing or dying from coronary artery disease or stroke during average follow up of 9.3 years.
According to the researchers findings suggest too much or too little sleep may be bad for heart health, additional research is needed to determine exactly why building on findings of sleep influencing biological processes such as glucose metabolism, blood pressure, and inflammation.
Occasional sleep ins or short nights are unlikely to be detrimental to health, that being said accumulating evidence suggests that prolonged sleep deprivation or excessive sleep should be avoided. Developing good sleep habits is recommended such as going to bed at a reasonable time, avoiding alcohol and caffeine before bed, eating healthy, and being physically active.