Do you regularly struggle to get sleep for 5 hours or more? Well, be alert! A recent study published in the Journal PLOS Medicine suggests that people over the age of 50 who sleep for 5 hours or less at night are more prone to chronic diseases such as diabetes, cancer and heart problems.
The study was conducted on almost 8,000 men and women, aged 50 to 70 for over 25 years. Researchers found that people who slept for 5 or fewer hours were 30-40 per cent more likely to be diagnosed with multi-morbidity (the co-occurrence of two or more chronic conditions).
According to Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, the sleep cycle differs with age. Babies under a year need 16 hours of sleep whereas adults do need 7 to 9 hours of sleep.
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