💤 Sleeping too little or too long accelerates aging

A study published in Nature reveals that sleeping too little or too long could accelerate the aging of almost all our organs. Conducted by Junhao Wen of Columbia University, it is based on the analysis of nearly 500,000 participants and 23 biological aging clocks.

The researchers used what are called biological aging clocks, tools based on machine learning and measurements such as blood proteins. These clocks estimate whether a person is aging faster or slower than normal. But here, the team created organ-specific clocks, because the brain, heart, lungs, or liver can age at different rates.


By comparing reported sleep duration with the aging clocks, a U-shaped curve appeared. People sleeping less than 6 hours or more than 8 hours showed accelerated aging. The best balance was found between 6.4 and 7.8 hours. This association does not prove a direct cause, but it indicates that sleep is deeply linked to overall health.

Strong links were observed between too little sleep and disorders such as depression, anxiety, obesity, type 2 diabetes, or hypertension. Too much sleep was associated with respiratory diseases like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Both extremes were linked to digestive problems.

Finally, this research shows that sleep does not only affect the brain, but the entire organism. Specific aging clocks could one day help personalize sleep advice. In the meantime, the idea of an ideal window of 6 to 8 hours of sleep is confirmed, for the benefit of our overall health.