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eldenrim t1_jat8iro wrote

Reply to comment by ilanallama85 in Too much or too little sleep could be making you sick more. Those who reported sleeping less than six hours a night were 27% more likely to report a recent infection, and those who reported more than nine hours sleep were 44% more likely to report one. by MistWeaver80

Yeah but it's still good to know because if you're ill more than others and your sleep isn't average then you can either:

> Sleeping too much is unhealthy

Reduce sleep. Or

> Unhealthy people sleep too much

Investigate the underlying issue and then fix it, reducing sleep.

Which lays out a straightforward solution, if you investigate first then you'll cover both, so do that.

It's pretty actionable even if it's correlation.

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MoonWispr t1_javy3ae wrote

I think the point is if you're consistently sleeping too much or too little it's likely (or always) caused by other factors that need to be dealt with. Work, health, etc.

Studies like this often suggest that simply forcing oneself to sleep more or less will just make things better all by itself. Without knowing the cause, this could even make things worse.

Edit: For example, some health conditions (like allergies) constantly exhaust the body and result in needing extended rest to recover. Not allowing yourself that rest, without dealing with the condition itself, will just make it worse.

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eldenrim t1_jb06qmo wrote

Which is essentially what I'm saying, but that by trying and failing to correct your sleep, you'll know it's a deeper issue and can look at that.

But now, people with atypical sleep and immune issues that ignore one (or both) might be stirred into some reflection and subsequent action. The knowledge helps even if it's correlation, is all I mean.

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