Cracking 'the restless nights' myth

Those who slumber more that eight hours a day and short sleepers who get fewer than seven hours of shut-eye experience disturbed nights, says study.

Believe it or not, sleeping too much, just like sleeping too little, can make you restless in bed. Researchers in America have carried out a study and found that those who slumber more that eight hours a day and short sleepers who get fewer than seven hours of shut-eye experience disturbed nights, the Science Daily reported.

"Although it is unclear why long and short sleepers should have similar types of sleep complaints, our findings challenge the assumption that more than seven or eight hours of sleep is associated with increased health and well-being," lead researcher Michael A. Grandner was quoted as saying.

To find out if long sleepers have as many sleep complaints as the sleep-deprived, the researchers at the University of California used data from 100 adults interviewed in the National Sleep Foundation's Sleep in America Poll. All the participants were asked how many hours they slept on a typical workday, not including naps, and whether they had any complaints about the quality of their sleep and sleep's effect on their daily activities.

According to their findings, long sleepers reported more problems with falling asleep, waking up during the night, awaking too early, feeling "unrefreshed" upon waking up, and feeling sleepy during the day than those who slept seven or eight hours.

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Sleep complaints were more common in both long and short sleepers than in those who got seven to eight hours of sleep a night. Women were more apt to be long sleepers than men were, the researchers found.