My World: Is there such a thing as too much sleep?

Scientists say that between six and nine hours is a healthy amount, anything above or below that can cause serious health risks.

This surely begs the question, if your body remains asleep, how can you be getting too much?

I trust my body’s instincts, and if on my day off I don’t wake up until a few hours after I do on a normal working day, then obviously there is a reason for that.

In my mind, my body needs that extra sleep after a busy week at work, my body needs the rest and recovery time in order to attack the next week full on.

However, it seems not everyone agrees.

A colleague suggested that getting up a couple of hours earlier every day would make me feel better, like I would have some sense of accomplishment at not wasting a day.

But if sleep is what your body needs, how can it be called a waste?

It is only a waste if you had something else planned that you miss out on due to your pillow head or sleeping gets in the way of other plans. If there are no plans, there is no waste.

(I realise, reading that last sentence back, how dull my life sounds!)

Clearly, if I didn’t need the sleep, my body would wake me up, would it not?

It’s not even a conscious decision, the decision is more based around the fact that I choose not to wake myself up, therefore allowing nature (to an extent) to take control.

Whatever the case, and how ever people differ, I know what I’ll be doing this Sunday morning... sleeping!

What are your sleeping habits? Do you like a lay in at the weekend? Let us know by tweeting @josephcawthorn