Good night's sleep doesn't have to be long

Research finds people who sleep more than eight hours a night have shorter life spans than those who sleep six to seven hours.

By Victoria Stagg Elliott, AMNews staff. March 11, 2002.

Daniel F. Kripke, MD, a San Diego-based psychiatrist, has patients coming to him all the time, concerned that they do not sleep the oft-cited standard of eight hours a night.

He asks them how they feel during the day. If they report that they feel well-rested and function well, he attempts to convince them that they don't need sleeping pills or the other therapies they have read about or seen advertised on television.

Now, Dr. Kripke has even more evidence that the amount of sleep those patients are getting is enough.

According to a study he authored in the February Archives of General Psychiatry, people who reported sleeping six to seven hours a night had the greatest survival rate over a six-year period. Those who slept more than eight or less than six hours a night had the greatest risk of death. Those who took sleeping pills also had shorter life spans.

Dr. Kripke, a professor of psychiatry with the University of California, San Diego, says his study is not meant to make long sleepers worry, but to reassure shorter sleepers that they shouldn't necessarily be concerned.

"If a patient feels rested with five, six or seven hours of sleep, then they don't need to worry that they need eight hours, and they certainly don't need to take sleeping pills," he said. "It's really a message of reassurance."

The study was cheered by consumer advocates concerned about the links between manufacturers of sleeping pills and sleep studies. Dr. Kripke's study was funded by the American Cancer Society and the National Institutes of Health. [...]