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Lauren's List Breaks Down Negative Effects Of Sleep Too Much

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MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- If you're an early riser like CBS4's Lauren Pastrana, you're lucky to get 5 or 6 hours of sleep on any given night. Seven to eight hours sounds like a vacation! 10 hours plus?! Forget about it!

We often hear the benefits of sleep, but like most things, anything in excess can be bad for you.

So today's "Lauren's List" breaks down the negative effects of sleeping too much, to make early birds feel just a bit better!

  1. Heart Disease and Stroke- A concerning problem linked with long sleep is cardiovascular disease. Researchers from the Chicago School of Medicine found that people who sleep more than 8 hours per night are twice as likely to have chest pain and 10 percent more likely to have coronary heart disease, according to RD.com. A study from the UK showed a 46 percent greater chance of stroke in long sleepers, even after adjusting for other risk factors.
  1. Obesity- Much like the chicken or the egg, it's hard to show what came first here. The long sleep leading to weight gain, or the weight gain causing you to want to sleep more. Looks like sleep is a cause and effect for and of obesity.  If you're spending more time in bed, you're not exercising or moving around, so you're burning fewer calories. In a study from Canada, long sleepers were 25 percent more likely to gain weight over the study's 6-year period.
  1. Depression- One symptom of depression is oversleeping, so having untreated mental health problems could be one reason why you've had a hard time getting up. Studies have shown long sleep is significantly associated with frequent mental distress, and this may be tied to the lack of physical activity caused by sleeping too much.
  1. Brain Fog- Have you ever taken a long nap only to feel even more tired? That's why power naps are so helpful! A short burst of sleep will leave you feeling recharged and your brain sharp. One study out of Harvard shows older women who slept more than 9 hours had worse cognition, the equivalent of aging almost 2 years!

How many hours do you sleep each night?

Tell Lauren on Facebook or Twitter.

If you have an idea for a future "Lauren's List" send it to lpastrana@cbs.com.

 

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