Heavyweight media outlets The Huffington Post and The Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) have been pumping out strong statements in recent weeks, and it backs up what sleep publications have been trumpeting for years: sleep matters to health. A recent Huff Post article quotes celebrity physician Mehmet Oz, MD, MBA, saying that sleep is nothing less than the “single most under-appreciated health problem in America.”

The article even poses the provocative question—What’s more important? An hour at the gym or an extra hour of sleep? Dr. Mehmet Oz, starring in the new series “Surgeon Oz” on OWN, says there is a definitive answer. “I feel pretty passionately about this,” he says. “If you have the choice between an extra hour of sleep or an extra hour of working out, you sleep.”

Although exercise has enormous value, says Oz in the #OWNSHOW video, he points out that “people who don’t sleep, gain weight. People who don’t sleep have immune problems and a whole slew of other problems. Why deal with that?”

The sleep hygiene advice is well known by members of the sleep industry, but Oz’s reach to consumer audiences is vast, particularly with the new backing by Oprah Winfrey. As far as how many hours of sleep are needed each night, Dr. Oz says in the Huff Post that it’s cut and dry. “95 percent of people need somewhere between 7 and 8 hours,” he says. “On average, women need 7 to 7.5 hours, while men – who are needier, need 7.5 to 8.”

Source: Doctoroz.com