Turns out, sleeping more than six to eight hours a night is associated with an increased risk of death and cardiovascular diseases.

According to a recent study at the McMaster and Peking Union Medical College, people sleeping more than the recommended upper limit of eight hours increased their risk of major cardiovascular events, like stroke or heart failure, as well as death by up to 41 per cent.

But a possible reason for this could be that people have underlying conditions causing them to sleep longer, which in turn could raise the risk of cardiovascular disease or death, explained the authors of the study.

The findings of the study appeared in the Journal of European Heart.