- Posted May 14, 2026
Too Little or Too Much Sleep Ages Every Organ in Your Body
Your sleep habits may be affecting more than just your energy level. A new study says they could also impact how quickly every organ in your body ages.
Researchers analyzed data from nearly a half-million people in the United Kingdom to examine how sleep duration relates to aging across different organ systems.
Using advanced "biological aging clocks" powered by machine learning, the team measured aging in 17 systems, including the brain, heart, lungs, liver and immune system.
"In the liver, for example, we have an aging clock built with protein data, an aging clock of metabolic data, and an aging clock of imaging data," said lead author Junhao Wen, an assistant professor of radiology at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City. "This allows us to see whether sleep is distinctively associated with aging clocks derived from multiple omics and molecular layers."
The findings, published May 13 in the journal Nature, revealed a U-shaped pattern: People who slept fewer than 6 hours — or more than 8 hours — a night showed signs of faster biological aging throughout the body.
The healthiest aging patterns were seen in people who reported sleeping between 6.4 and 7.8 hours per night.
Short sleep was linked to a higher risk of many conditions, including depression, anxiety, obesity, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease.
Both short and long sleep were associated with lung conditions, including COPD and asthma, as well as digestive disorders such as gastritis and acid reflux.
The researchers said the findings highlight how deeply sleep is connected to overall body function — not just brain health.
Wen said that these findings support the idea that sleep plays an important role in maintaining organ health across the brain and body, including metabolic balance and a healthy immune system.
He added that future studies will explore whether improving sleep habits could help slow biological aging across different organs.
More information
The Sleep Foundation has more on sleep and aging.
SOURCE: HealthDay TV, May 14, 2026
