Columbia Study Ties 6-8 Hours of Sleep to Lower Aging Signals in 500,000 People
Updated
Updated · Fox News · May 21
Columbia Study Ties 6-8 Hours of Sleep to Lower Aging Signals in 500,000 People
3 articles · Updated · Fox News · May 21
About 500,000 people in global biobank data showed the lowest biological age signals when women slept 6.5-7.8 hours and men 6.4-7.7 hours, according to a new Nature study.
Researchers compared self-reported 24-hour sleep duration, including naps, with 23 biological aging clocks and found statistically significant links in nine, including the brain, heart, immune system and skin.
Short sleep was linked to broader physical harms across cardiovascular, metabolic, musculoskeletal, neurological, pulmonary and gastrointestinal conditions, while longer sleep showed a stronger tie to psychiatric-related outcomes.
Mortality risk also followed a U-shaped pattern: shorter sleep was associated with a 50% higher relative risk of all-cause death, versus about 40% for longer sleep.
The study was observational and relied on self-reported sleep, so it does not prove that sleeping exactly six to eight hours slows aging; outside experts said sleep quality and restorative REM and deep sleep also matter.
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Optimal Sleep Duration for Slower Biological Aging: New Columbia Study Pinpoints 6.4–7.8 Hours as Key to Healthier Organs
Overview
A major Columbia University study, published in Nature in May 2026, analyzed data from 500,000 UK adults using 23 biological aging clocks across 17 organ systems. This innovative research revealed a U-shaped link between sleep duration and biological aging, showing that both too little and too much sleep can speed up aging in key organs like the brain, heart, lungs, and immune system. The study identified an optimal sleep range of 6.4 to 7.8 hours per night, highlighting that staying within this window may help slow down the aging process and reduce the risk of many diseases.