Too much or too little sleep may increase your risk of developing chronic conditions such as obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease.

Researchers studied 56,507 American adults aged 18 to 85 years, to find out the association between short sleep duration (less than 7 hours) and long sleep duration (more than 8 hours) with obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease. Data was collected from the study participants regarding their exercise, smoking, family environment and geographic location.

It was found that, compared with sleeping between seven to eight hours every night, sleeping less than six hours or more than nine hours was associated with a higher risk of developing chronic conditions like obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure. The researchers concluded that seven to eight hours of sleep each night appeared to be the ideal amount to maximise health benefits and minimise the risk of developing any chronic disease.

These findings emphasise the importance of sleep in keeping people healthy, and indicate that sleep may have a larger influence on development of chronic diseases than diet or exercise.