Nov 13, 2015 11:00 PM EST
Study Shows that 8 Hours of Sleep is Good for the Heart

People in this generation are just too busy with their careers that even the word rest and sleep isn't in their vocabulary anymore. Most of them might even forget to eat at times and may only sleep about 4 to 5 hours. 

According to Live Science, a study shows that people who sleep at least 8 hours each night are those presumed to have healthy heart condition than people who get less than the average.

As per the study, the team of researchers tried to compare two groups of people who slept for different lengths of time and compared it to the seven criteria set by the American Heart Association for what they call the "ideal" heart health. The team found that people who slept 8 or more hours per night were 2.7 times likely to meet at least 6 or 7 points in the criteria of the ideal heart health, compared to people who only had about 6 or less hours of sleep per night.

The researchers collected data from about 9,700 people who were employees at a health organization. They filled out questionnaires that include questions about lifestyle habits like diet, physical activity, sleep duration and quality. They were divided into 3 groups basing from how long they slept. They also looked at how many of the "ideal" targets each participant met.

The criteria included blood pressure, body mass index, blood glucose level, cholesterol level and getting at least 150 minutes of physical activity every week. For people who slept 8 hours were 1.6 times most likely to consume a healthy diet, 1.7 times to have an ideal BMI, 1.3 times to have the ideal blood pressure and 2.4 times to get enough physical activity compared to those who slept less than 6 hours.

The study suggested that majority of the participant who got less than 6 hours of sleep were females who didn't have a college degree. 

In conclusion, the researchers said that the study do not prove cause and effect, it means that its having less sleep doesn't mean that a person will meet fewer of the heart health metrics. A further study is needed to have a concrete evidence for this claim.

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