Augusta: A study has shown that a good night’s sleep biologically slows down the aging process.
A team of scientists from Augusta University in the US state of Georgia analyzed the sleep data of 6,052 people with an average age of 50 for the study.
The study found that people who regularly monitored their sleep patterns had a shorter biological lifespan. However, those who did not sleep regularly were associated with poorer health.
The team of researchers said that disruption of the body’s internal clock may cause the body’s cells to age and cause age-related diseases.
Numerical age is actually the number of years we live, while biological age refers to the age of our cells and tissues given their current state.
Research has shown that biological age can be seen as an indicator of a person’s good health and risk of premature death. However, it is unclear how sleep affects biological aging.
In the study, participants slept for four to seven days wearing sleep trackers that collected data on their sleep duration, sleep time variability and irregularity. The study also looked at differences in the sleep of these individuals on days off and on the rest of the week.
Researchers analyzed participants’ blood samples for signs of liver disease, kidney disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and cholesterol to determine biological age.
The study, published in the journal Sleep Health, found that nearly two-thirds of people got between seven and nine hours of sleep each night, while 16 percent got less than seven hours and 19 percent got more than nine hours.
On average, participants saw a 60-minute change in sleep time each night, while they slept 78 minutes more on the day off.
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