Although it varies slightly according to factors such as age, the general optimum amount of bed time for adults is around 7 to 8 hours, and by spending either too much or too little time in bed you might be actually be risking your health down the line.
Too Little Sleep
Sometimes it isn't possible to achieve the ideal amount of bed time, perhaps due to work or family commitments (we've all been there!) however frequent sleepless nights can have a variety of negative health effects.
Specifically, too little sleep can lead to energy problems throughout the day, which can impair your judgement and is potentially very dangerous if you're working, for example.
But as well as fairly obvious problems associated with too little sleep, there are also some issues you might not be aware of, for example research has suggested that too little sleep can actually lead to obesity!
Too Much Sleep
It has long been thought that sleep and especially too much sleep doesn't have any negative health effects and can even bolster certain aspects of your health such as skin quality, however this isn't in fact the case; and a University of California study has actually suggested that people who spend too much time in a quality bed actually die younger!