Sleep duration linked to biological aging and disease risk, study finds
Fox News • • health
Key Points:
- A study published in Nature using data from about 500,000 people found that both short and long sleep durations are linked to signs of accelerated biological aging and higher risks of future diseases and mortality.
- Researchers identified that women sleeping 6.5 to 7.8 hours and men sleeping 6.4 to 7.7 hours had the lowest biological age gap, with short sleep impacting physical health more and long sleep linked to psychiatric outcomes.
- Sleep medicine expert Dr. Saema Tahir emphasized that sleep is crucial for bodily repair processes, and disruptions from too little or too much sleep can accelerate aging at the cellular level.
- Tahir advised using the six- to eight-hour sleep guideline as a flexible starting point, focusing on sleep quality and individual needs rather than rigid hours, since restorative deep and REM sleep are vital for health.
- The study underscores sleep as a biological necessity essential for healthy aging, urging people to prioritize consistent, high-quality sleep rather than viewing sleep deprivation as a productivity badge or developing anxiety over sleep duration.