What Are the Benefits of More Sleep?

If getting a solid eight hours of sleep a night is considered healthy, it stands to reason that getting even more sleep would be healthier. But for most people, that's not the case, although research has shown that there are benefits in some instances.

Extra Sleep

As a rule, sleep researchers have found little benefit to sleeping beyond the seven to eight hours a night that's long been considered the optimal level. Even after missing an entire night of sleep, a typical person requires just one normal night of sleep to fully recover. But a few recent studies have shown that--in some cases--getting extra sleep on a regular basis can provide benefits.

Sleep and a Healthy Heart

A 2008 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine showed a direct correlation in the number of heart attacks people suffer the week following daylight savings time. The study conducted in Sweden found the rate of heart attacks dropped the week after clocks were set back in the fall, when people gain an extra hour of sleep. The same study showed the rate of heart attacks rose the corresponding week in the spring, when clocks were set back and people lost one hour of sleep. Another study at the University of Chicago Medical Center showed that 27 percent of people who slept less than five hours a night had calcified arteries. That percentage dropped to 11 percent for participants who got five to seven hours of sleep a night and to 6 percent for people who slept more than seven hours.

Athletic Performance

A 2007 study at Stanford University showed the performance of athletes can benefit from extra sleep. The study followed students on Stanford University's swim team who slept for 10 hours a day for seven weeks and compared them to other team members who maintained their normal sleep patterns. Students who slept more swam a 15-meter sprint an average of .51 seconds faster, reacted .15 seconds faster on the starting blocks and kick-turned .10 seconds faster.

The Downside of Extra Sleep

The benefit of extra sleep has its limits and is still a subject of dispute. A study on longevity at the Scripps Clinic Sleep Center in La Jolla, California, showed that subjects who sleep between 6.5 hours and 7.5 hours a night lived the longest and that subjects who slept more than eight hours had shorter life spans. But that same study also suggested sleep is just one of dozens of variables factored into longevity and can't be considered a primary factor. So the debate rages on.

The Bottom Line

The general consensus among researchers is that the benefit of getting more than seven or eight hours of sleep a night is negligible. But, on the other hand, getting extra sleep doesn't appear to do any harm either, so don't hesitate to hit the snooze button.