COULD AN EXTRA HOUR OF SLEEP SAVE YOUR LIFE?

Skimping on shut-eye can have a major impact on your health. We share the simple secrets to getting enough to keep on track...

When the clocks jump from 1 am to 2 am on Sunday 27 March, you’ll ‘lose’ an hour’s sleep. Not only can this knock a daily routine out of sync, less sleep has been linked to a greater risk of health problems – scientists found that the number of people having heart attacks spike by 10% on the Monday and Tuesday following the clocks going forward*. If just one hour can have such an impact, then what about those of us who regularly reduce our night-time rest?

Every hour counts

How many hours did you sleep last night? A restorative seven or eight? Or are you limping along on much less? During sleep, there are a number of important processes that occur to support the healthy function of our physical and mental wellbeing, including healing and repairing cells, processing information and forming new pathways. If we don’t get enough sleep, these steps can’t take place.

‘Having anything less than seven hours’ sleep is harmful, and regularly getting less than six hours can seriously affect your health,’ says Dr Irshaad Ebrahim of The London Sleep Centre. Regularly skimping on sleep will not only make us feel irritable and impair our concentration levels and memory, more worryingly, it will elevate the risk of heart disease, diabetes and cancer. ‘Reducing our total sleep time can result in disturbances in our immune system and also increased vulnerability to chronic illnesses,’ says Dr Ebrahim.