Sleep duration and mortality: a meta-analysis of prospective studies
The question: What does sleep deprivation do over a lifetime?
- Study type
- Systematic review and meta-analysis
- Participants
- 1,382,999
- Population
- 1.38 million adults in prospective cohorts across several countries
- Intervention
- Habitual sleep duration
- Compared with
- Typical sleep of about seven to eight hours
- Duration
- Follow-up of 4 to 25 years
- Published
- Sleep, 2010
What was measured
All-cause mortality.
What was found
Short sleep was associated with a 12 per cent higher risk of death. Long sleep was associated with a 30 per cent higher risk.
Limitations
Observational data cannot prove cause, and definitions of short and long sleep varied. Long sleep may signal existing illness rather than cause it.
What it means
Regularly sleeping too little is linked with poorer long-term health. Sleep belongs alongside diet and activity as a pillar of prevention.
Source
Cappuccio FP, D'Elia L, Strazzullo P, Miller MA. Sleep duration and all-cause mortality: a systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective studies. Sleep. 2010;33(5):585-592.
Read the original (DOI 10.1093/sleep/33.5.585) · Source verified 8 October 2026
Study summaries describe published research for education. They are not claims about any product and are not medical advice.