MULTI Study Links 6.4-7.8 Hours of Sleep to Lowest Biological Aging
Updated
Updated · Nature.com · May 13
MULTI Study Links 6.4-7.8 Hours of Sleep to Lowest Biological Aging
5 articles · Updated · Nature.com · May 13
Using UK Biobank data from about 500,000 adults, the MULTI Consortium found a U-shaped link between sleep duration and biological age gaps, with the lowest values typically at 6.4 to 7.8 hours depending on organ and sex.
Nine of 23 aging clocks across brain, liver, lung, immune, skin, endocrine, adipose and pancreas measures showed the pattern, spanning MRI, plasma proteomics and metabolomics.
Sleep shorter than 6 hours or longer than 8 hours, versus 6 to 8 hours, was tied to higher risks of systemic diseases and all-cause mortality; hazard ratios were 1.50 for short sleep and 1.40 for long sleep.
Genetic and clinical analyses linked abnormal sleep to 153 disease associations, with short sleep showing broader ties to cardiovascular, metabolic and psychiatric disorders, while long sleep was more concentrated in brain-related conditions such as depression and schizophrenia.
The authors said the findings support sleep as a potentially modifiable factor in healthy aging, though the study relied on self-reported sleep and could not fully rule out reverse causality.
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The U-Shaped Link Between Sleep Duration and Biological Aging: Insights from the Landmark 2026 MULTI Study
Overview
The Landmark MULTI Study, published in May 2026, revealed a U-shaped link between sleep duration and biological aging, showing that both too little and too much sleep can speed up aging. This discovery gave the scientific community crucial insights into how sleep affects the aging process and highlighted the need for more personalized approaches to managing sleep-related health risks, especially late-life depression. By challenging the traditional 'one-size-fits-all' method, the study suggests that interventions should be tailored to each person's unique aging patterns and sleep habits, offering new hope for healthier aging and better mental health outcomes.