A plant-based diet consisting of a balanced meal, once or (maybe) twice a day. Preference for eating less. If one does not meditate, then you’re mind eventually, slowly, disintegrates. Some sort of exercise that increases the oxygen-content of your body – that would be recommended. Study of some of ancient spirituality would help also, with calming purposefully the direction of your life.

Learn to have the right attitude. And most importantly, express love in daily life. Without the later, there’s no glue that keeps the chemical soup together.

You’re right — I had not yet taken a formal research methods course when I wrote this post nearly nine months ago.

there is actually nothing wrong with the statement “too much sleep is linked to depression”. it means that they are correlated. you are also correct in that too much sleep doesn’t necessarily *cause* depression.

and really, some of your points for “consequences” have the same caveat, don’t they? it could very well be that people who don’t have excessive health problems in old age both sleep longer and live longer.
that said though, sleep is important for so many things in physiological functioning, it’s amazing.