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Too Little or Too Much Sleep Both Affect Organ Aging: New Study Finds Ideal Sleep Duration Is 6.4–7.8 Hours Per Day
By Emma Stein | Published May 14, 2026
Sleep duration is closely linked to overall health, and a new study further suggests that sleeping too little or too much is associated with accelerated aging across nearly all organs. The most ideal sleep duration falls between 6.4 and 7.8 hours per day.
The "aging clock" is an indicator that estimates the difference between a person's "biological age" and actual age based on biometric data such as blood, proteins, and DNA methylation, using machine learning methods.
To establish specialized aging clocks for each organ, a team led by Junhao Wen, a radiologist at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons (VP&S), analyzed data from 500,000 participants in the UK Biobank. They assessed the relationship between sleep duration and biological age using 23 aging clocks across 17 organ systems and found a highly consistent "U-shaped pattern":
Sleeping less than 6 hours or more than 8 hours per day accelerates the aging rate of organs, while those who sleep between 6.4 and 7.8 hours per day show the least aging.
Junhao Wen emphasized that both insufficient and excessive sleep may accelerate aging in multiple organs, including the brain, heart, lungs, and immune system, supporting the importance of sleep in maintaining organ health through the brain's and body's coordinated networks. This includes promoting metabolic balance and normal immune system function.
The study stresses that sleep duration is not directly equivalent to affecting physical aging, but rather suggests that too little or too much sleep may serve as a warning sign of poor health, such as hidden chronic diseases, metabolic imbalances, or mental health issues.
The new paper has been published in the journal Nature.
Too little sleep—and too much—associated with faster aging
Source: https://technews.tw/2026/05/14/aging-clock-sleep/
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Sleeping too much or too little both affect organ aging. New research: The ideal sleep duration is 6.4 to 7.8 hours per day.
By Emma Stein | Published May 14, 2026
Sleep duration is closely linked to overall health, and a new study further suggests that sleeping too little or too much is associated with accelerated aging across nearly all organs. The most ideal sleep duration falls between 6.4 and 7.8 hours per day.
The "aging clock" is an indicator that estimates the difference between a person's "biological age" and actual age based on biometric data such as blood, proteins, and DNA methylation, using machine learning methods.
To establish specialized aging clocks for each organ, a team led by Junhao Wen, a radiologist at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons (VP&S), analyzed data from 500,000 participants in the UK Biobank. They assessed the relationship between sleep duration and biological age using 23 aging clocks across 17 organ systems and found a highly consistent "U-shaped pattern":
Sleeping less than 6 hours or more than 8 hours per day accelerates the aging rate of organs, while those who sleep between 6.4 and 7.8 hours per day show the least aging.
Junhao Wen emphasized that both insufficient and excessive sleep may accelerate aging in multiple organs, including the brain, heart, lungs, and immune system, supporting the importance of sleep in maintaining organ health through the brain's and body's coordinated networks. This includes promoting metabolic balance and normal immune system function.
The study stresses that sleep duration is not directly equivalent to affecting physical aging, but rather suggests that too little or too much sleep may serve as a warning sign of poor health, such as hidden chronic diseases, metabolic imbalances, or mental health issues.
The new paper has been published in the journal Nature.
Too little sleep—and too much—associated with faster aging
Source: https://technews.tw/2026/05/14/aging-clock-sleep/