Seven hours the magic number for sleep

in an article published today by By Karin Zeitvogel in Washington, she states that people who sleep more or fewer than seven hours a day, including naps, are increasing their risk for cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of death in the US, a study published today shows.

Sleeping fewer than five hours a day, including naps, more than doubles the risk of being diagnosed with angina, coronary heart disease, heart attack or stroke, the study conducted by researchers at West Virginia University's (WVU) faculty of medicine and published in the journal Sleep says. And sleeping more than seven hours also increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, it says.

Study participants who said they slept nine hours or longer a day were one-and-a-half times more likely than seven-hour sleepers to develop cardiovascular disease, the study found. The most at-risk group was adults under 60 years of age who slept five hours or fewer a night. They increased their risk of developing cardiovascular disease more than threefold compared to people who sleep seven hours.

Women who skimped on sleep, getting five hours or fewer a day, including naps, were more than two-and-a-half times as likely to develop cardiovascular disease.

The article itself is from a research study with a few interesting stats attached, so if you wish to read the complete article ... CLICK HERE.

I have an application for my IPhone (one of only two apps on it I might add!) and you may find this of interest as well. It is called SLEEP CYCLE.  On looking back over mine today I see that over a period of 24 days (well nights actually!) I have slept an average of 6 hours and 57 minutes per night. Obviously I am 3 minutes per night under the 'safe average'!!

The Sleep Cycle alarm clock is a bio-alarm clock that analyzes your sleep patterns and wakes you when you are in the lightest sleep phase.

Waking up in the lightest sleep phase feels like waking without an alarm clock - it is a natural way to wake up where you feel rested and relaxed. Try it before 'knocking it".

Have you ever woken up feeling completely wrecked when the alarm clock goes off, despite the fact that you have slept "enough" hours? When this happens you have probably been awakened during a deep sleep phase, and your whole day can turn into one long zombie marathon.

Other days you spring out of bed with a smile on your face, feeling completely rested even though you shouldn't. As the alarm clock goes off, chance seems to play a big role in how your day will become. 

But does it really have to be that way? This is where the Sleep Cycle alarm clock application comes into play.    

The following graphs are my 'sleep patterns' both in Singapore and when we are in Batam:

 

          can you see the difference?

the graph below shows that I had 5 hours and 22 minutes sleep this particular night in Singapore (June 20 2010) that I went to bed at 11.08pm and woke at 4.31am.

when I am awake .... is at the top of the graph, my 'dreaming time' is roughly in the middle and when I am really sound asleep is that wriggly little bit way at the bottom of the graph!

 Not much sleeping going on for this night in Singapore, but if you look at the images of the graphs when I sleep in Batam there are long patches of sleeping soundly.

Just proves that I sleep far better in Batam than I do in noisy Singapore!!

ha ha ha ..... I can see you all running back to look at that URL for SLEEP CYCLE and installing it on your IPhones now!

You will find it very interesting. For those that say "they sleep lightly or very rarely sleep" maybe in for a big surprise. Or even those that think they sleep all night long without ever waking, lets see if you are right!!

Would like to hear from you if you try this application and how you found it.

have fun.