Kripke et al. (2002) claim that persons who sleep 8 or more hours per night have a higher mortality risk than persons who sleep 6 or 7 hours. They analyzed data from the 1982 Cancer Prevention Study II of the American Cancer Society, a national survey taken by about 1.1 million people. The survival or date of death was determined for about 98% of the sample six years later. Most of the respondents were friends and relatives of American Cancer Society volunteers; the purpose of the original survey was to explore factors associated with the development of cancer, but the survey also contained a few questions about sleep and insomnia.