Can an extra hour’s sleep radically affect your health?

New research suggests just an extra hour of sleep every night may cause genes associated with inflammation, immune response, stress, diabetes and cancer to become less active.

The BBC recently conducted an informal medical experiment led by the University of Surrey's Sleep Research Centre and U.K. television personality Dr. Michael Mosley.

Researchers analyzed the sleep patterns of seven volunteers for two weeks, all of whom normally slept between 6 to 9 hours a night prior to the start of the study. The volunteers were randomly assigned to two groups, half of whom slept 6.5 hours a night for a week and the other half slept 7.5 hours. Both groups had blood samples taken regularly throughout the week. After the first week, the groups switched how much sleep they were getting, and blood samples were taken again.

Researchers discovered that in the group who got 6.5 hours sleep, genes associated with inflammation, immune response, stress, diabetes and cancer were more active. In the group that got the extra hour sleep, those genes were less active.

"We found that overall there were around 500 genes that were affected," explains researcher Simon Archer. "Some which were going up, and some which were going down."

Additionally, most of the volunteers who got 6.5 hours of sleep struggled with mental agility tasks during that week.

Researcher Katharina Wulff explains that during deep sleep, which only lasts a few hours, our brains are moving memories from short-term storage into long-term storage, allowing us more short-term memory space for the next day. When we don't get adequate deep sleep, memories are lost.

She also notes that a stress-related chemical in the brain called noradrenalin is switched off during the deep REM stage of sleep. It's the only time -- day or night -- that this happens, allowing us to calmly process emotional events from the prior day. Since REM sleep occurs in the latter half of the time spent sleeping, those who wake up too early (before your REM sleep is complete) can experience more anxiety and stress the next day.

Earlier this year, the University of Surrey's Sleep Center released a more in-depth study that similarly looked at the connection between sleep deprivation and genes. Their conclusion was that too little sleep may increased a person's risk of developing obesity, heart disease and diabetes.

How many hours of sleep do you get every night? Tell us in the comments below.