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A coordinated U-shaped pattern across 17 organ systems suggests that both insufficient and excessive sleep serve as markers for accelerated biological aging and poorer overall health. Credit: Neuroscience News<\/p>\nSummary: A comprehensive analysis of biological clocks across the human body reveals that both insufficient and excessive sleep are associated with accelerated aging in nearly every organ system.<\/p>\n
The study demonstrates a coordinated \u201cU-shaped\u201d relationship between sleep duration and biological age. The findings suggest that sleep is not just a brain-centered activity but a critical factor in maintaining a coordinated brain-body network, influencing metabolic balance and immune health across 17 organ systems.<\/p>\n
Key Research Findings<\/p>\n
The U-Shaped Pattern: Both short sleep (fewer than 6 hours) and long sleep (greater than 8 hours) correlate with faster biological aging. The \u201csweet spot\u201d for minimal aging was found to be between 6.4 and 7.8 hours of sleep per day.Organ-Specific Aging Clocks: Using machine learning and data from the UK Biobank, researchers built 23 specialized clocks for 17 organs using medical imaging, proteins, and molecular data. This revealed that organs age at different rates and are uniquely sensitive to sleep patterns.Brain-Body Network: Short sleep was significantly linked to mental health disorders (depression, anxiety) as well as systemic physical conditions including obesity, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and heart arrhythmias.Respiratory and Digestive Impact: Both short and long sleep durations were associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma, and digestive issues like gastritis and GERD.Late-Life Depression Pathways: Mediation analysis suggests that short sleep may act directly on the disease burden of late-life depression, whereas long sleep may influence depression through pathways involving the brain and adipose (fat) tissue clocks.<\/p>\n
Source: Columbia University<\/p>\n
An analysis of\u00a0biological clocks throughout the human body\u00a0suggests that too few hours of sleep\u2014and too many\u2014may speed aging in the brain, heart, lung, and immune system and is associated with a wide range of diseases.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cPrevious studies have found that\u00a0sleep\u00a0is\u00a0largely\u00a0linked\u00a0to\u00a0aging and\u00a0the\u00a0pathological burden of the brain.\u00a0Our study\u00a0goes further and\u00a0shows\u00a0that\u00a0too little and\u00a0too much\u00a0sleep\u00a0are\u00a0associated with faster aging in nearly every organ, supporting the idea that sleep is\u00a0important in maintaining organ health\u00a0within a coordinated brain-body network,\u00a0including\u00a0metabolic balance\u00a0and a healthy immune system,\u201d says study leader Junhao Wen, assistant professor of radiology at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A coordinated U-shaped pattern across 17 organ systems suggests that both insufficient and excessive sleep serve as markers for accelerated biological aging and poorer overall health. Credit: Neuroscience News<\/p>\n
The research was published May 13 in\u00a0Nature.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The power of aging clocks\u00a0<\/p>\n
Aging clocks are increasingly popular for\u00a0digitizing\u00a0how many years a person ages faster or slower\u00a0than\u00a0their chronological age\u00a0using machine learning,\u00a0based on\u00a0the biological\u00a0data (e.g., proteins from a minimally invasive blood test) from the person.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Though most\u00a0aging\u00a0clocks measure aging across the whole body,\u00a0organs age at different rates\u2014a fact\u00a0well-known to\u00a0women facing ticking biological clocks\u00a0due to fast-aging ovaries.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Wen\u2019s group has been at the forefront of constructing aging clocks\u00a0for specific organs in the body\u00a0that could\u00a0provide more specific\u00a0and personalized information to patients.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone is excited\u00a0by these aging clocks and their ability to predict disease\u00a0and mortality risk,\u201d Wen says.\u00a0\u201cBut to me,\u00a0the\u00a0more\u00a0exciting\u00a0question\u00a0is,\u00a0can we link aging\u00a0clocks\u00a0to a lifestyle factor that can be modified\u00a0in time to\u00a0slow aging?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The U-shaped pattern between aging clocks and sleep\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sleep was the perfect test case,\u00a0as sleep is increasingly\u00a0thought to be\u00a0an important factor\u00a0in\u00a0health.\u00a0\u201cI\u2019m also a\u00a0light sleeper\u00a0and\u00a0was getting\u00a0worried about the effects\u00a0on myself,\u201d says Wen.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
To build his\u00a0aging\u00a0clocks, Wen\u00a0used data collected from half a million participants in the UK Biobank and used machine learning\u00a0to\u00a0determine\u00a0signatures\u00a0for an aging organ.\u00a0Wen\u00a0used a wide variety of data sources\u00a0to\u00a0create aging clocks\u00a0based on\u00a0structural data from medical images, organ-specific proteins,\u00a0and molecules\u00a0found in blood\u00a0in each organ.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the liver,\u00a0for example, we have an aging clock\u00a0built with protein\u00a0data,\u00a0an\u00a0aging clock\u00a0of metabolic data, and\u00a0an aging clock\u00a0of\u00a0imaging data,\u201d\u00a0Wen says. \u201cThis\u00a0allows us to\u00a0see\u00a0whether\u00a0sleep\u00a0is\u00a0distinctively\u00a0associated with aging clocks derived from\u00a0multiple\u00a0omics and molecular layers.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
He then\u00a0assessed the relationship between a\u00a0person\u2019s sleep\u00a0duration (as reported by each Biobank participant)\u00a0and\u00a0their biological ages\u00a0from 23 aging clocks across 17\u00a0organ systems.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Across\u00a0the entire body,\u00a0a\u00a0coordinated U-shaped pattern emerged:\u00a0In the UK Biobank population,\u00a0both\u00a0short sleep (fewer than 6 hours)\u00a0and long sleep (greater\u00a0than 8 hours)\u00a0were\u00a0associated\u00a0with\u00a0faster\u00a0aging,\u00a0while\u00a0the least amount of aging occurred in people who reported between 6.4\u00a0and\u00a07.8\u00a0hours of sleep\u00a0per day.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This does not mean that sleep duration alone causes organs to age faster or slower, but it suggests that both insufficient and excessive sleep may be markers of poorer overall health across the body.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sleep\u2019s body-wide connection to disease\u00a0<\/p>\n
The relationship between sleep and disease suggests that there exists a connection between the brain and the body that extends beyond merely influencing the brain itself.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Among brain-related disorders, short sleep was significantly associated with depressive episodes and anxiety disorders,\u00a0as seen in other studies of\u00a0sleep and mental health.\u00a0Short sleep was also\u00a0associated\u00a0with\u00a0obesity, type 2 diabetes,\u00a0hypertension, ischemic heart disease,\u00a0and\u00a0heart\u00a0arrhythmias.<\/p>\n
Short and long sleep were associated with\u00a0chronic\u00a0obstructive pulmonary disease,\u00a0asthma, and a\u00a0cluster of digestive disorders, including gastritis and\u00a0gastroesophageal reflux disease.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Wen says,\u00a0\u201cThe\u00a0broad brain-body\u00a0pattern is important because it\u00a0tells us that\u00a0sleep duration\u00a0is a deeply embedded part of our entire physiology,\u00a0with far-reaching implications across the body.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
A deeper look at\u00a0late-life depression and sleep\u00a0<\/p>\n
Beyond predicting disease, the\u00a0organ-specific aging clocks\u00a0are also valuable for\u00a0determining\u00a0how sleep\u00a0is related to\u00a0specific conditions,\u00a0as\u00a0exemplified by\u00a0Wen\u2019s examination of\u00a0late-life depression.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Although the study could not definitively determine if sleep duration\u00a0caused\u00a0late-life depression\u00a0or if\u00a0late-life depression\u00a0impacted sleep duration,\u00a0Wen\u2019s group applied\u00a0\u201cmediation analysis\u201d to late-life depression,\u00a0asking whether aging clocks\u00a0mediate\u00a0the relationship\u00a0between\u00a0both short and long sleep\u00a0and\u00a0late-life depression.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The analyses suggest that short sleep\u00a0may\u00a0act directly on\u00a0the\u00a0disease burden of late-life depression,\u00a0while\u00a0long sleep\u00a0may\u00a0impact\u00a0late-life depression via\u00a0a\u00a0mediation pathway underlying the brain and adipose clocks.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis has\u00a0a strong implication for\u00a0future sleep management\u00a0and future therapeutics,\u201d Wen says. \u201cOur study suggests\u00a0there\u00a0may be\u00a0different\u00a0biological pathways\u00a0between\u00a0long and short sleepers that lead to the same outcome, late-life depression,\u00a0and we shouldn\u2019t treat them the same way.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Key Questions Answered:Q: Can \u201ccatching up\u201d on sleep over the weekend reverse organ aging?<\/p>\n
A: While this study focuses on reported daily duration, the findings emphasize that sleep is a \u201cdeeply embedded\u201d part of our physiology. Consistency within the 6.4 to 7.8-hour window is likely more effective for maintaining organ health than sporadic long-duration sleep, which itself is linked to faster aging.<\/p>\n
Q: Why would \u201ctoo much\u201d sleep be bad for my heart or lungs?<\/p>\n
A: The study suggests excessive sleep may be a marker of poorer overall health rather than a direct cause of aging. Long sleep was specifically linked to different biological pathways, such as the adipose (fat) clock, which can influence systemic inflammation and disease.<\/p>\n
Q: How do scientists calculate my \u201cbiological age\u201d compared to my real age?<\/p>\n
A: They use aging clocks powered by machine learning. By analyzing specific proteins from a blood test or structural data from medical images, these models digitize how much faster or slower your internal organs are wearing down compared to the years you\u2019ve been alive.<\/p>\n
Editorial Notes:This article was edited by a Neuroscience News editor.Journal paper reviewed in full.Additional context added by our staff.About this sleep and aging research news<\/p>\n
Author:\u00a0Helen Garey<\/a>
Source:\u00a0Columbia University<\/a>
Contact:\u00a0Helen Garey \u2013 Columbia University
Image:\u00a0The image is credited to Neuroscience News<\/p>\n