Sleep deprivation can cause the brain to appear significantly older than its actual age: New Swedish research
Lack of sleep has a detrimental impact on the apparent age of our brain, causing it to look older than the actual chronological age.
This was confirmed by studies conducted by Swedish scientists at the Karolinska Institute, who analyzed MRI data from over 27,000 adults aged 40 to 70 in the United Kingdom.
They found that in some cases, the brain appeared considerably older than one’s real age, indicating accelerated brain aging and potential negative effects on cognitive functions.
Using artificial intelligence, researchers assessed brain age based on more than a thousand visual markers, such as loss of brain tissue, cortical thinning, and vascular damages.
The AI model was trained on images of healthy individuals to recognize normal aging patterns, then applied across the entire participant pool.
The results revealed that brains appearing older than the actual age could be signs of deviations from normal aging processes, often linked to cognitive decline, higher dementia risk, and early aging markers.
The study also examined sleep parameters, including chronotype, sleep duration, insomnia, snoring, and daytime sleepiness, creating individual sleep profiles.
It was found that individuals with poor sleep habits had brains roughly a year older than their actual age, with late bedtime and short sleep duration being the most significant factors.
These findings emphasize the crucial importance of healthy sleep for maintaining brain youth and optimal functioning.