Research associates short (and to a lesser extent long) sleep duration with obesity,
diabetes, and cardiovascular disease; and although 7-8 h of sleep seems to confer
the least health risk, these findings are often based on non-representative data.
We hypothesize that short sleep (<7 h) and long sleep (>8 h) are positively associated
with the risk of obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease; and
analyze 2004-2005 US National Health Interview Survey data (n=56,507 observations,
adults 18-85) to test this. We employ multilevel logistic regression, simultaneously
controlling for individual characteristics (e.g., ethnoracial group, gender, age,
education), other health behaviors (e.g., exercise, smoking), family environment (e.g.,
income, size, education) and geographic context (e.g., census region). Our model correctly
classified at least 76% of adults on each of the outcomes studied, and sleep duration
was frequently more strongly associated with these health risks than other covariates.
These findings suggest a 7-8 h sleep duration directly and indirectly reduces chronic
disease risk.
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