KYW’s Medical Reports are sponsored by Independence Blue Cross.
According to several major scientific studies, sufficient sleep is more than seven hours per night. Getting a full seven hours was linked to more than a 20 percent reduction in cardiovascular disease, and almost a 50 percent reduction in fatal cardiovascular disease.
I am a believer that sleep should be added to proper exercise, diet, reduction in alcohol intake, and smoking as major lifestyle modifications to help our overall health.
Over a 20-year period, the researchers found that 36 percent of all forms of cardiovascular disease and 57 percent of fatal cardiovascular disease could have been prevented by making these lifestyle changes.