Two bad nights are enough to make you feel older than your age.

Insomnia and repeated sleep disturbances lead to more than just the appearance of dark circles under the eyes. Lack of sleep can actually have serious consequences for health and well-being, particularly by increasing the risk of heart disease, obesity, diabetes, depression and accidents, as well as weakening the immune system. It also affects cognition, concentration and memory and can lead to decreased physical and mental performance. According to a Swedish study, lack of sleep can make us feel older than we really are, and restorative sleep acts as a real means of rejuvenation.

However, beyond the simple subjective impression of not being your peer, the findings of this study have profound implications for the health and lives of people with insomnia.

When lack of sleep makes us feel old

In this study, published March 27 in the scientific journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, researchers prove that there is a strong correlation between sleep quality and perception of age. To reach this conclusion, the Swedish team conducted two studies. First, they relied on questionnaires that 429 people aged 18 to 70 were able to answer to document the number and effects of sleepless or poor-quality nights experienced over the course of a month. Thanks to the answers received, scientists were able to establish that volunteers who slept well and did not have bad nights felt six years younger than their actual age. Rough sleepers are less fortunate. In addition to drowsiness, they felt on average three months older (0.23 years to be exact) for every bad night.

More alarming numbers in the context of greater sleep restriction

To go further, the scientists began a second study, this time involving 186 volunteers aged 18 to 46 years. The latter had to report their estimated age after two good nights of sleep lasting more than nine hours and, conversely, also in the case of only eight hours of sleep in 48 hours. Due to increased feelings of sleepiness during the day in those who have not slept much felt on average 4.44 years older. After two nights in a row with limited sleep of less than four hours, some even felt like they aged even more due to the extreme amount of sleepiness they felt. Not surprisingly, people who felt refreshed after two good nights of sleep felt that they 4 years younger than your actual age.

As Leonie Balter, the study’s lead author and psychoneuroimmunologist at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, explains: “ Lack of sleep makes people feel sleepy, which can contribute to the feeling of aging while limiting a person’s ability to remain physically and socially active, which promotes a feeling of youth. »

Another factor to consider

During these two studies gender did not affect the result, although previous studies have shown that women need more sleep than men. On the other side, sleep chronotype turned out to be very important. Here we can distinguish two main types of sleeper profiles. In fact, on the one hand, there are those who get up early and go to bed early (sometimes called larks), and on the other hand, there are “night owls” who get up late, whose mornings start slowly, but who see that their performance improves during the day to peak in the evening.

However, in the context of this study, people who preferred an evening lifestyle often felt older than your actual age, even after a good night’s sleep. However, morning people suffered much more from feeling older after the sleep disruption.

Bad Nights and Feeling Old: Strong Link to Health

Dr Iuliana Hartescu, a psychology lecturer at Loughborough University who was not involved in the study, said the findings were important. Really, ” sleep is a changeable behavior that has immediate and noticeable effect on our health. It takes time to see the effects of poor diet or lack of physical activity. The effects of a bad night are immediate and affect all daily behavior for the next 24 hours. »

This work clearly demonstrates the importance of protecting your sleep, especially in order to feel young. According to Dr. Leonie Balter: ” sleep has a big impact on how old you feel, and that’s not the point. not just your long-term sleep habits. Even if you only get two nights of sleep, it will still have a serious impact on your well-being.. »

She further adds that ” subjective age is easily and quickly amenable. “However, previous studies have already shown that feeling younger than your actual age associated with longer, healthier lives. In addition to the unpleasant and heavy feeling of fatigue and wear and tear, this perception of premature old age also contributes to poor diet and reduced use of exercise.there are so many bad options out there long term health effects. Tired sleepers may finally lose all desire to communicate and gain new experiences.