8-Hour Sleepers More Likely to Be Heart Healthy

by Sara G. Miller, Staff Writer   |   November 12, 2015 02:44pm ET

ORLANDO, Fla. — People who get at least 8 hours of sleep each night are more likely to have good heart health than those who get less sleep, a new study finds.

In the study, researchers compared groups of people who slept for different average lengths of time, looking at how well each group met the seven criteria from the American Heart Association for “ideal” heart health.

The researchers found that people who slept 8 or more hours a night were 2.7 times more likely to meet six or seven of the ideal heart-health criteria, compared with people who got less than 6 hours of sleep a night. [Heart Disease: Types, Prevention & Treatments]