A recent study analyzing biological clocks in the human body indicates that both inadequate sleep and excessive sleep may accelerate aging in various organs, including the brain, heart, lungs, and immune system. This association is also linked to a range of diseases.
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Junhao Wen, assistant professor of radiology at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and the study's lead author, highlighted that prior research emphasized sleep's connection to brain aging and related health issues. The findings suggest that maintaining a balanced sleep duration is crucial for preserving organ health and overall well-being.
Published in the journal Nature, the research utilized aging clocks that measure how biological aging compares to chronological age through machine learning techniques that analyze biological data, including proteins derived from blood tests. While most aging clocks reflect overall body aging, Wen's team aims to refine these models to assess aging in specific organs—valuable for providing tailored health insights.
The study found a U-shaped relationship between sleep duration and aging clocks. Analyzing data from 500,000 participants in the UK Biobank, researchers discovered that both short sleep (under 6 hours) and long sleep (over 8 hours) correlated with faster aging, while the least aging occurred in individuals who averaged between 6.4 and 7.8 hours of sleep daily. This does not imply causation but suggests that both insufficient and excessive sleep could reflect poorer health across the body.
The connection between sleep and various diseases further underscores the relationship between brain and body functions. Short sleep was notably linked to depressive episodes, anxiety, obesity, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, ischemic heart disease, and arrhythmias. Similarly, both short and long sleep durations were connected to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, and digestive disorders.
Wen's research also examined late-life depression in relation to sleep. Although the study did not definitively establish a causal link between sleep duration and late-life depression, it proposed that short sleep might directly contribute to the burden of late-life depression, whereas long sleep may have effects mediated through other biological pathways. Wen emphasized the importance of considering different biological mechanisms for short and long sleepers when developing treatment approaches for late-life depression.
The study underscores the critical role of sleep in overall health and suggests potential avenues for therapeutic interventions regarding sleep management and its effects across various health metrics.