New research shows that poor quality sleep can accelerate brain aging.
A study conducted by the Karolinska Institute, examining brain imaging of 27,500 people in middle age and older, found a direct link between poor sleep quality and biological aging of the brain.
According to this research, for every point of decrease in sleep quality, the gap between the biological age of the brain and the person’s chronological age increases by about six months.
People with poor sleep have brains that appear, on average, a year older than their actual age; researchers believe inflammation is one possible cause of this phenomenon.
These findings underscore the importance of quality sleep for maintaining brain health and shed light on the long-standing question of the link between sleep and cognitive decline. Poor sleep is not only a symptom, but also a cause of premature brain aging
