If you are like many people in the Western world, you are trying to get more sleep. However, oversleeping also poses several serious health risks.

The headlines tell us that Americans and other people in the West do not get enough sleep. To a great extent, this is true. Lack of sleep is extremely common and can have a variety of adverse health effects. However, it is important not to go overboard and get too much sleep. According to several studies, too much sleep also can be bad for your health.

Dementia and Sleep

Dementia is one of the most serious diseases of aging, robbing one in three people of their memories and costing around $236 billion per year just in the United States. Insomnia is one of the main symptoms of dementia. It also appears to be a risk factor that predisposes people to develop dementia as they age. However, a new study suggests that oversleeping is also is a risk for developing dementia. The Framingham Heart Study looked at risk factors and disease incidence rates among more than 5,000 residents of a Massachusetts town. This study found that people who sleep more than nine hours a night are twice as likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease within 10 years. This was especially true among people who had less than a high school education.

Did the oversleeping cause dementia or was it an early symptom of the disease? Researchers are not sure what causes this link. However, sleeping more hours than the standard recommended 7 to 8 hours may be an indicator that a person is going to develop dementia in the near future. This information could be used to identify Alzheimer’s disease earlier and begin treatments and therapies before many skills and memories have lost.

Strokes: Is Too Much Sleep a Risk Factor?

Another study looked at oversleeping and the risk of developing strokes later in life. There are two types of stroke: ischemic strokes, in which a blockage in arteries stops blood flow to critical areas of the brain, and hemorrhagic strokes in which a blood vessel ruptures and spills blood into the brain. Both can lead to immense loss of function and even death. Research suggests that aberrant sleep, including sleeping too much, may raise a person’s risk of both types of stroke.

People who slept more than eight hours were at higher risk of developing a stroke, but people who slept more than 10 hours a night were at especially high risk. This may be due to the fact that people who sleep more than eight hours a night are at especially high risk of atrial fibrillation, a heart condition that can cause strokes. As with the link to dementia, researchers are currently unsure whether the oversleeping is a cause or a symptom of early disease.

The Root Cause: Oversleeping and Inflammation

These links between oversleeping and disease may be due to the link between getting too much sleep and developing inflammation. Inflammation has been linked to a variety of different diseases including dementia, stroke, cardiovascular disease and even cancer. Chronobiology studies have found that when we sleep too much or too little, our bodies release higher levels of cytokines, the biochemical responsible for inflammation.

Getting enough sleep is one of the most important ways that you can maintain good health and help to prevent future disease. While it may be difficult in the modern world to avoid sleeping too little or too much, the disease risks are worth getting the right amount of sleep at the right time.