Target Your Sleep Window To Slow Down Biological Ageing

Notably, the amount of hours you spend asleep isn't the be-all end-all when it comes to health: one study discovered that sleep regularity was more strongly linked to a longer life than sleep duration.

Key points

• According to The paper, those who sleep less than six hours or more than eight hours a night saw faster ageing, on average: a "U-shaped" association.
• Short sleep was linked to depression, anxiety, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, ischemic heart disease, and heart arrhythmia.
• Getting at least seven hours' shut-eye nightly seems to support us live longer, function better, and even lower our dementia risk.
• And individuals who neither slept too much nor too little seemed to be at a lower risk of "all-cause mortality", too.
• Both short and long sleep were associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, and multiple digestive problems, including gastritis and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).

But that's not to say it doesn't matter. Getting at least seven hours' shut-eye nightly seems to support us live longer, function better, and even lower our dementia risk.

And the lead author of recent research published in Nature, Junhao Wen, has remarked: Previous studies have identified that sleep is largely linked to ageing and the pathological burden of the brain.

"Our study goes further and shows that too little and too much sleep are associated with faster ageing 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." How much sleep should I obtain to age better?

Using data collected from half a million members of the UK Biobank (a depositary of thousands of participants' health data that scientists can employ for health research), Wen created 23 "ageing clocks" to predict the rate of ageing of various organs and body systems. He then compared that to the participants' sleep patterns.

According to The paper, those who sleep less than six hours or more than eight hours a night saw faster ageing, on average: a "U-shaped" association. And there appeared to be a sleep duration sweet spot, too.

Though this varied by "organ and sex in the UK Biobank (aged 37-84 years)", the least amount of ageing seemed to happen in those who slept between 6.4 and 7.8 hours a night in this research.

And individuals who neither slept too much nor too little seemed to be at a lower risk of "all-cause mortality", too. Poor sleep was additionally linked to climbed risk of disease.

In this research, either too much or too little sleep was linked to a higher likelihood of disease.

"The broad brain-body pattern is important because it tells us that sleep duration is a deeply embedded part of our entire physiology, with far-reaching implications across the body, " remarked Wen.

For context, the paper read, "Our results underscore the systemic biological adverse associations of disturbed sleep and provide a compelling framework for more targeted and thoughtful attention to sleep disturbance as a potential signal of emerging health issues and a partner in the quest to promote healthy ageing, reduce disease risk and extend lifespan."

Taken together, the developments around target Your Sleep Window To Slow Down Biological Ageing point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.