Poor Sleep Ages Your Brain Faster, Study Finds
Swedish researchers found that poor sleep makes brains age faster. People with unhealthy sleep patterns had brains that appeared one year older than their actual age. The study examined 27,500 participants over several years.
Good sleep brings many benefits, but it may also affect us far into the future. Poor sleep appears to make our brains age faster, according to new research from Sweden.
Scientists at Karolinska Institute examined the connection between unhealthy sleep patterns and brain health. They studied data from 27,500 people aged 40 to 70 who participated in the UK Biobank study.
Participants completed questionnaires about sleep duration, circadian rhythm, snoring, and difficulty falling asleep. Researchers then scored sleep quality on a five-point scale.
"We saw that people with poor sleep had brains that looked about one year older than their actual age," said Abigail Dove, the researcher who led the study.
To assess brain age, scientists used MRI images taken an average of nine years after the sleep questionnaires. Using machine learning, they estimated biological brain age based on over one thousand different measurements from brain scans.
Older brains generally showed greater loss of nerve cells and damage to blood vessels. Previous research linked poor sleep to dementia, but scientists weren't sure which came first - the sleep problems or the brain changes.
This study provides clearer evidence that sleep quality directly impacts brain aging. The findings suggest that improving sleep habits could help maintain brain health as we grow older.
Why does this matter for international readers? Sleep problems affect people worldwide, and understanding their long-term impact on brain health could help millions preserve cognitive function.