Washington: According to a new study, long sleep can reduce the risk of heart disease. Study by research team at the University of Chicago suggests that participants, who slept an hour longer per night than others, had a lower incidence of coronary artery calcification.

Christopher Ryan King, lead researcher revealed that 495 participants were observed from the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study. The subjects included black and white men and women, of age group 35-47 years. At the beginning of the study, the computed tomography scans showed that no one from the participants had coronary calcification. Study followed the participants for five years and found that an hour extra sleeping per night reduced the risk of calcification by 33%.

The authors reported: “We have found a robust and novel association between objectively measured sleep duration and 5-year incidence of coronary artery calcification.”

According to a UC release, “This study further demonstrates the utility of a simple objective measure of sleep that can be used at home. Future studies will be needed for crucial extensions to these results.”

The findings were published in the Journal of American Medical Association on Wednesday.