Table 2.

Summary of possible mechanisms connecting long sleep with cardiovascular risk factors.

Pathway to Cardiovascular Disease	Correlates to long sleep
Metabolic	-low HDL [36, 37] -hyperglycemia [27] -hypertriglyceridemia [27] -insulin dysregulation and resistance [33]
Inflammation	-high CRP [37, 39] -high IL-6 [37, 39]
Behavioral/Lifestyle	-depression [43, 44] -low socio-economic status [43, 44] -unemployment [43, 44] -insufficient physical activity [43, 44] -increased alcohol consumption [37] -smoking [37]

^*[31][36][43] define long sleep as ≥8 h

^**[27][33][34][42] define long sleep as ≥9 h