Poor sleep can add three more years to your brain age

Poor sleep in your 40s could make your brain age faster, new research suggests. The findings add to a growing body of evidence that sleep quality is closely linked to cognitive health, emphasizing the need to address sleep problems early in life.

Getting enough sleep is essential for our physical and mental well-being. It helps us consolidate our memories and aids physical recovery, and not consuming enough has been shown to contribute to heart disease, obesity, neurodegenerative diseases and depression.

However, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one in three adults in the United States reports not getting enough.

“Sleep problems have been linked in previous research to thinking and memory impairments later in life, putting people at greater risk for dementia,” study author Clémence Cavaillès, a researcher at the University of California, San Francisco, said in a statement. . “Our study, which used brain scans to determine participants’ brain age, suggests that poor sleep is linked to nearly three years of additional brain aging in middle age.”

The study analyzed data from 589 individuals with an average age of 40 years. Participants completed sleep questionnaires at the start of the study and again five years later. They then underwent brain scans another 10 years later.

By comparing brain scan data with questionnaire results with the help of machine learning, researchers observed a significant difference between the brains of those who had difficulty falling asleep compared to those who did not. After adjusting for factors such as age, sex, high blood pressure and diabetes, the group with the most trouble sleeping had brains that were 2.6 years older than those who got the best quality sleep, on average.

Poor sleep quality, difficulty falling asleep, difficulty staying asleep, and early awakening were all linked to faster brain aging, especially in those who consistently showed poor sleep characteristics throughout the study period.

“Our findings highlight the importance of addressing sleep problems earlier in life to preserve brain health, including maintaining a consistent sleep schedule, exercising, avoiding caffeine and alcohol before going to bed, and using relaxation techniques.” , said Kristine Yaffe, one of the study’s co-authors. authors and researcher at the University of California at San Francisco and member of the American Academy of Neurology said in a statement.

“Future research should focus on finding new ways to improve sleep quality and investigating the long-term impact of sleep on brain health in younger people.”

Of course, these findings were based on participants’ subjective reports of sleep. Furthermore, the data does not prove that sleep problems are responsible for this accelerated brain aging. However, it offers compelling evidence that sleep problems are closely linked to cognitive decline and aligns with existing research on the importance of sleep in brain development and maintenance in old age.

Are there any health problems that are worrying you? Do you have any questions about sleep? Let us know via [email protected]. We can ask experts for advice and your story can be featured in News week.

Reference

Cavaillès, C., Dintica, C., Habes, M., Leng, Y., Carnethon, M.R., Yaffe, K. (2024). Association of self-reported sleep characteristics with neuroimaging markers of brain aging years later in middle-aged adults. Neurology, 103. http://dx.doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0000000000209988