How much sleep you get might impact your overall health as you get older with a minimum of five hours recommended for over 50s.

A PLoS Medicine study examined the connection between sleep duration and multiple chronic illnesses using data spanning 25 years.

The health and sleep of 8000 UK civil servants were tracked and all of the participants were asked how many hours of sleep they got on an average weeknight.

Some also wore a wristwatch sleep tracker and checked for chronic conditions, including diabetes, cancer and heart disease, over two decades of follow-up.

The researchers from University College London and Paris Cité University found that short sleep duration was associated with the risk of chronic disease and subsequent presence of two or more long-term health conditions.

Those who slept five hours or less around the age of 50 had a 30% greater risk of multiple ailments than those who slept seven hours. Shorter sleep at 50 was also associated with a higher risk of death.

So, getting at least five hours of sleep a night may cut the chances of multiple chronic health problems in people over 50.

Experts generally recommend about seven or eight hours and recent research has also found that seven hours of sleep per night was optimal.

People who slept that amount performed – on average – better on cognitive tests (including on processing speed, visual attention and memory) than those who slept less or more.

Individuals also need seven hours of sleep consistently, without too much fluctuation in duration.

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