According to researchers at the University of Sydney, indulging in those few extra hours of shut-eye could increase your risk of death, with the study showing that oversleeping is more harmful than alcohol consumption. The researchers analysed 200,000 subjects aged 45 years and above, over six years. An average adult needs between seven and a half to eight hours, however the results of this study showed that individuals who slept more than nine hours a day have a 44% increased risk of death, which is more than the 8% risk from alcohol consumption.

Nine News spoke to Emmanuel Stamatakis, an associate professor at the University of Sydney who said “The detrimental effect of oversleeping was more important than the detrimental effect of under sleeping. The combination of sitting too much, not exercising enough and sleeping for too long was one of the most toxic in our study.”

The researchers concluded that physical inactivity has a 72% risk of death, whereas smoking increases the risk of death by 94%.

[Via.]