July 17, 2008 Too much sleep bad for your health? Play video

(NECN/ABC) - New research finds the amount of sleep women get is linked to their stroke risk. Those who typically get more sleep than average - or typically
sleep less than average both face a higher risk for stroke.

As a nation, we're chronically sleep-deprived.

Experts recommend eight hours of sleep per night but most Americans say they don't even average seven.

But is it possible to get too much sleep?

Studies show that people who sleep much longer than average - 9 or more hours per night - tend to have higher odds of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.

And now, it seems, also stroke.

New research on more than 90,000 post-menopausal women finds those who habitually slept more than 9 hours per night had a 60 percent higher risk for the most common form of stroke, caused by blocked blood vessels in the brain.

Women who slept less than six hours per night also had a 14% increased risk.

Researchers say it's possible that hormonal differences that influence sleep habits also alter our risk for certain diseases.

If that's true, long sleepers' health won't improve simply by setting the alarm earlier - doctors must first identify the root cause of the problem and fix it from there.

ABC's Dr. Timothy Johnson reports.