Too much or too little sleep may make your body age faster
New research from Columbia University suggests that both insufficient and excessive sleep are linked to accelerated biological aging across multiple organs. Scientists are using machine learning-based 'aging clocks' to better understand how lifestyle factors like sleep impact long-term health.
Why it matters
It provides actionable insights into how sleep habits can be modified to potentially slow the biological aging process.
A new analysis of biological aging across the human body suggests that both sleeping too little and sleeping too much are associated with faster aging in the brain, heart, lungs, immune system, and other organs. These sleep patterns were also linked to a broad range of diseases.
"Previous studies have found that sleep is largely linked to aging and the pathological burden of the brain. Our study goes further and shows that too little and too much sleep are associated with faster aging in nearly every organ, supporting the idea that sleep is important in maintaining organ health within a coordinated brain-body network, including metabolic balance and a healthy immune system," says study leader Junhao Wen, assistant professor of radiology at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons.
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