NEW DELHI: Sleeping too little, or even too much, may be linked to faster biological aging and a higher risk of death, according to a large study of nearly 5 lakh adults aged 37 to 84 years. People sleeping less than six hours had a 50% higher hazard of death from any cause, while those sleeping more than eight hours had a 40% higher hazard, compared with six to eight hours.The study, published in Nature, did not establish that sleep extremes directly cause earlier death or faster aging.
Researchers analysed data from about 5,00,000 UK Biobank participants and examined 23 biological aging clocks based on magnetic resonance imaging, plasma proteins and metabolic markers. They found a U-shaped relationship between sleep duration and biological age gaps. The lowest gaps were generally recorded between 6.4 and 7.8 hours, depending on organ and sex. Among clocks showing a significant relationship, the lowest gaps occurred between 6.5 and 7.8 hours for women and 6.4 and 7.7 hours for men. The pattern was significant in 9 of 23 clocks, involving the brain, heart, lungs, liver, immune system, skin, endocrine system, fat tissue and pancreas.“Sleep is not just about duration. Timing, depth and continuity also matter. There is no single ideal number of hours for everyone. Consistently sleeping too little or too much, particularly less than six or more than 9 hours, may indicate non-restorative sleep or an underlying sleep disorder, which can raise cardiovascular and metabolic risks and affect healthy aging,” said Dr J C Suri, director and head, department of pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine, Sitaram Bhartia Institute of Science and Research.
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The study identified 153 significant associations between abnormal sleep duration and future disease outcomes. Short sleep had broad links with mental health, metabolic, cardiovascular, pulmonary and digestive diseases. Researchers suggested disrupted sleep and circadian rhythms may affect inflammatory, metabolic, vascular, hormonal and tissue-repair pathways. Questions remain about young people’s exposure to irregular schedules, artificial night light, late-night eating, shift work and “social jet lag”. Sleep duration was self-reported, and sleep quality, interruptions, timing, architecture or regularity were not measured.
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