Sleep tips the balance between life and death, according to some studies.
So what role does it play in our life cycle? According to a two-decade study which involved twins, it was found that sleep does not only affect health but it also affects the duration of life.
The researchers came up with the result that it should only last 7 to 8 hours.
Lesser duration or longer duration may have detrimental effects, including death.
Among women who normally have short sleep, this risk of early death increase to up to 21% in comparison with women who sleep an average of 8 hours a day.
The percentage is higher among males, pegging at 26%.
On the other hand, women who have more than eight hours of sleep each day have increased susceptibility to early death by 17%.
Again, males have a higher percentage which averaged at 24%.
This worsens when medications are used by a little less than 40% for females and 31% for males.
These results were confirmed by a 12-year study conducted by British researchers which involved 10,308 civil servants.
Based on the results of this research, it was found that sleep affects life expectancy.
It came with the same conclusion that lesser or more of this causes the discrepancy of life expectation between short sleepers and long sleepers.
These studies, however, do not suggest that it should be blamed fully for early death among some individuals who have sporadic sleep patterns.
There are other equally important factors that must be considered such as health, lifestyle, stress, and mental and psychological well-being.
It may, nonetheless, be used as an indicator of unhealthiness.
And this one thing is conclusive: adequate sleep contributes to one's health.
Though the results need to be confirmed by other studies, current science seems to agree that sleep has something to do with longevity.