Science has discovered the optimal sleep duration to slow down aging.

A study published in Nature shows that sleeping 6-8 hours a day is associated with slower aging, reduced risk of disease, and premature death.

Sleep affects the entire body and is one of the few factors humans can intervene in to improve long-term health - Illustration by AI

A large-scale study of over 500,000 adults has just determined that sleeping 6-8 hours a day is associated with better health and slower aging.

The research results were published on May 13 in the journal Nature .

Sleeping too little or too much is both bad for you.

The research team, led by Junhao Wen, a computational neuroscientist at Columbia University, used data from the UK Biobank, a long-term health database of more than half a million people.

Scientists analyzed the relationship between sleep duration and 23 biological aging "clocks" representing 17 organs in the body, based on blood, protein, metabolic, and medical imaging data.

The results showed that this relationship formed a U-shaped curve: sleeping too little or too much was associated with a faster rate of aging.

However, the optimal sleep duration is not exactly the same for all organs. For the heart, about 6 hours of sleep per day is best, while the brain yields more positive results at 8 hours.

Some differences have also been noted between men and women.

Sleep patterns can be changed.

According to research, people who sleep 6-8 hours a day have lower rates of diseases such as type 2 diabetes and depression compared to those who sleep outside this timeframe.

When investigating the genetic factors associated with abnormal sleep patterns, the research team found a rather weak link. This suggests that sleep may be more heavily influenced by environment and lifestyle.

Mr. Wen believes this is a positive sign because sleep is something people can actively change.

However, the authors note that the study cannot definitively confirm whether sleep is the direct cause of slowing aging or whether health conditions, in turn, affect sleep.

Abigail Dove, a neuroepidemiologist at the Karolinska Institute, argues that sleep affects the entire body, not just the brain, and that it is one of the few factors that humans can intervene in to improve long-term health.

Meanwhile, Alexandra Badea, a biomedical engineer at Duke University, noted that the research helps clarify how the body's organs are interconnected and influence each other through sleep.

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VNA

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/khoa-hoc-tim-ra-khoang-thoi-gian-ngu-giup-lam-cham-lao-hoa-20260519085650138.htm