Those who have difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep in early middle age show more signs of poor brain health in late middle age. This was shown by a study published in the journal Neurology.
“Our study, which used brain scans to determine the age of participants' brains, suggests that poor sleep is associated with an increase in brain aging by three years in middle age,” the scientists said.
The experiment involved 589 people with an average age of 40 years at the beginning of the study. They used questionnaires to describe their sleep patterns and had brain scans at the start of the study and 15 years later. Machine learning was used to determine the age of the brain.
Having two or three sleep problems (sleep deficiency, difficulty falling asleep, frequent awakenings, etc.) was associated with 1.6 years faster brain aging compared to those who did not have sleep problems. Those who had more than three sleep problems had brains that were 2.6 years older.
The results highlight the importance of addressing sleep problems to maintain brain health, including maintaining a consistent sleep schedule, being physically active during the day, avoiding caffeine and alcohol before bed, and using relaxation techniques.
