Two days of sleep deprivation can make a person feel years older.



Studies have shown that people feel years older after two or more nights without enough sleep. Researchers have found that consistent, restful sleep is a key factor in not feeling older than you really are.

Sleep and age subjective: protect your sleep if you want to feel young | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2024.0171

Two nights of broken sleep can make people feel years older, finds study | Science | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/mar/27/two-nights-of-broken-sleep-can-make-people-feel-years-older-finds-study

To investigate the effects of sleep deprivation and sleepiness on subjective changes in age, Leonie Balter and colleagues at the Karolinska Institutet at Stockholm University conducted a questionnaire survey of 429 subjects and a sleep time restriction experiment on 186 subjects. We conducted a follow-up survey regarding sleep.

In the survey, we asked the question, ``In the past 30 days, how many days did you feel like you didn't get enough rest or sleep?'' and ``On some days, you felt older than your age.'' On the other hand, I'm sure you sometimes feel young, but how old do you feel right now?'' For the latter question, the upper limit of the answer was set at 120 years and the lower limit was set at 12 years, and it was investigated how much the subject's perceived age on a daily basis differs from their actual age.



As a result of the survey, it was found that people who often feel sleepy or lack sleep are more likely to feel older today. Specifically, for every day of sleep deprivation in the past 30 days, subjective age increased by 0.23 years. In addition, when we investigated the relationship between the intensity of ``sleepiness'' that subjects answered on a nine-point scale and their subjective age, we found that the stronger the sleepiness felt each day, the more the subjective age increased by 1.22 years. got it.

On the other hand, those who reported never feeling sleep deprived in the past 30 days tended to feel younger than their actual age, with an average of 5.81 years younger.

Next, in the experiment conducted by Mr. Balter et al., subjects were asked to ``sleep for 9 hours for 2 days'' and ``sleep for 4 hours for 2 days''. On average, participants felt 4.44 years older after two days of 4-hour sleep, while they reported feeling 0.24 years younger after 9 hours of sleep.



Mr. Balter said, ``Sleep has a big impact on subjective age changes. Even just two nights of poor sleep can have a big impact on your physical condition.'' According to Balter, the misconception that you're getting older can lead to unhealthy eating habits, less physical activity, and a lack of desire to be social and participate in new experiences, which can be detrimental to your health. It is said that it may have an impact.

Based on the research results, Balter said, ``If you want to stay young, getting enough sleep is the most important thing.If you feel young, you'll be more willing to try new experiences and participate in social gatherings.'' They may experience benefits such as being more motivated to do things and become more physically active.'

in Science, Posted by log1p_kr