Women's Health October 9, 2025 0 Comments

Unlock the Shocking Truth: How One Sleep Mistake Could Be Speeding Up Your Brain’s Aging—And How Champions Fix It Fast!

Ever wonder if those late-night Netflix marathons are secretly aging your brain faster than your actual age? Turns out, catching lousy sleep might be doing just that—speeding up brain aging in a way that could impact your longevity and overall health. Science isn’t just whispering this warning anymore; it’s shouting it loud from the pages of The Lancet eBioMedicine. I mean, we all know skimping on sleep leaves us groggy, but now research unpacks how poor sleep habits could be aging our brains by a whole year beyond the calendar. It’s a wake-up call wrapped in a cozy blanket you definitely want to heed. So, what’s the deal with sleep and brain health? And more importantly, how do we punch back against those restless nights? Let’s dive into what experts are saying—and trust me, it’s worth tweaking your bedtime routine for. LEARN MORE

4 min read

New research links bad sleep with faster brain aging.
The connection between brain health and a good night’s sleep is not new, but this study reinforces existing research.
Here’s what experts say you can do to combat poor sleep habits.

A night of sub-par sleep is enough to put anyone on their back foot. But a growing body of research suggests that regularly skimping on sleep can actually negatively impact your health in a big way. And there’s now another study to add to the list.

New research published in the journal The Lancet eBioMedicine links trouble sleeping with faster brain aging. If you struggle with a sleep disorder, this isn’t meant to stress you out. But if you keep pushing back your bedtime to re-watch episodes of The Summer I Turned Pretty, it should be a wakeup call to try to get to sleep sooner. Here’s why.

Meet the expert: Abigail Dove, PhD, is the study co-author and post-doctoral researcher in the Aging Research Center at Karolinska Institutet; Jade Wu, PhD, is a behavioral sleep medicine specialist and author of Hello Sleep: The Science and Art of Overcoming Insomnia Without Medications.

What did the study find?

For the study, researchers analyzed data from 27,500 middle-aged and older adults who participated in the UK Biobank, a long-term study of health. Each of the study participants went through brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and answered questions about their sleep health.

The researchers divided the participants into three groups based on questions they answered about their sleep duration, insomnia, snoring, and daytime sleepiness. The participants also reported on their chronotype, which is whether they were a morning person or night owl. Based on those answers, they were split into three groups: people with healthy, intermediate, or poor sleep.

The researchers stacked that information against the MRI brain scans and calculated each person’s “brain age” based on the images. They discovered that for every point decrease in a person’s healthy sleep score, the gap between their brain health and chronological age increased by about six months. People who fell into the poor sleep category had brains that appeared to be about a year older than their actual age.

Why is sleep important for longevity?

There are a few reasons why sleep is so important for longevity. “Sleep is a fundamental behavior that plays an important role in metabolism, immune system functioning, brain waste clearance, and memory consolidation, among many others,” says Abigail Dove, PhD, study co-author and post-doctoral researcher in the Aging Research Center at Karolinska Institutet.

Dove’s study found that poor sleep was also linked to inflammation in the body, and more than 10 percent of the link between poor sleep and older brain age was tied to that factor. “This underscores that inflammation is a major mechanism connecting sleep to brain aging, although it is not the only factor at play,” Dove says.

Poor sleep health is also linked to a higher risk of developing serious health conditions like type 2 diabetes, obesity, and cardiovascular disease that are similarly linked to inflammation, Dove points out. “Sleep has also been linked to increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias in several previous studies,” she adds.

“Some of the major diseases that shorten our lifespan—and healthspan—are heart disease and brain disease. Both of these are directly impacted by sleep health,” says Jade Wu, PhD, a behavioral sleep medicine specialist and author of Hello Sleep: The Science and Art of Overcoming Insomnia Without Medications.

How much sleep should I be getting?

While everyone’s sleep needs are individual, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that most adults get between seven to nine hours of sleep a night. But your perfect number likely depends on your level of activity and other health factors. And remember: Quality of sleep is often more important than quantity. It’s important to aim for regular sleep cycles.

You can read all about the new rules of good sleep in Women’s Health‘s feature here.

What are some good ways to make sure I get enough sleep?

If you suspect that you have a sleep disorder or if trouble sleeping is a persistent issue for you, it’s important to see a healthcare provider for an evaluation and to determine next steps. “Not all sleep problems are easily fixed,” Dove says.

But if you feel like you may be able to turn things around on your own, Dove recommends making these tweaks:

Go to bed and wake up at the same time every day.
Limit how much caffeine and alcohol you have.
Try not to use screens before bed
Create a dark, quiet sleep environment.

And if you’ve tried the steps listed above and you’re still struggling, it’s time to talk to a healthcare professional about next steps. Same thing if you’re a regular snorer getting poor sleep or if you struggle with excessive daytime sleepiness, Wu says. “It’s usually a sign that something is not right with your nighttime sleep.”

Korin Miller is a freelance writer specializing in general wellness, sexual health and relationships, and lifestyle trends, with work appearing in Men’s Health, Women’s Health, Self, Glamour, and more. She has a master’s degree from American University, lives by the beach, and hopes to own a teacup pig and taco truck one day.