Not Sleeping Enough Can Kill You

If you consistently get less than six hours of sleep, you'd better have your affairs in order. A group of researchers in the UK and Italy say that, by examining 16 separate studies, they've proven that not sleeping enough can lead to an early demise, the Guardian reports. The studies spanned 25 years, 1.3 million people, and 100,000 deaths. Those who didn't get enough sleep were 12% more likely to die prematurely.

“Modern society has seen a gradual reduction in the average amount of sleep people take,” lamented one researcher. “It may be due to societal pressures for longer working hours.” But don't throw away your alarm clock just yet; those who sleep more than nine hours a night are also more likely to die early. The researchers don't think oversleeping itself puts you at risk, but they think it may be indicative of an underlying problem. (More sleep stories.)