New Research Suggests This Common Practice May Be Deteriorating Your Brain

The quality of this essential activity could influence your health

There's an activity we all engage in that might be harming our brains, and it's unlikely you'll guess what it is.

Our modern lifestyle is filled with habits that can be detrimental over time, like 'doomscrolling' on social media in bed, consuming ultra-processed foods, or enjoying a can of diet soda.

What isn't affecting us negatively these days? All these habits share a common factor: they can influence one of our most crucial organs - the brain.

Our brains require something essential to operate well, and that is sleep.

Numerous studies have explored how inadequate sleep affects the brain, but lacking restful sleep might also accelerate brain aging.

Research conducted by the Karolinska Institute in Sweden investigated how poor sleep patterns could make the brain appear 'older'.

They analyzed sleep habits and brain MRI data from over 27,000 UK adults aged between 40 and 70.

Everything we do affects our brains in some way

The study revealed that individuals who reported poor sleep had brains that seemed to have aged.

To assess the brain's age, they utilized over '1,000 different imaging markers from MRI scans' with a machine learning model that analyzed individuals without major health issues, whose brains were more closely aligned with their chronological age.

Once the model 'learned' what a normal brain looked like, it was applied to the entire study population. Researchers found that for each one-point decline in sleep quality, the brain aged approximately six months, with those sleeping the worst having brains about a year older than their actual age.

The researcher examined various aspects of sleep quality, dividing them into five factors: sleep duration, snoring, insomnia, daytime fatigue, and whether one is a 'morning' or 'evening' person.

They observed that one issue could lead to others, such as insomnia potentially causing more daytime fatigue.

These five factors contributed to a healthy sleep score, which was used to rank participants based on their sleep quality.

The participant's sleep schedules were reduced to five factors

The study revealed that individuals with four or five healthy traits possessed a ‘healthy’ sleep profile, those with two to three had an ‘intermediate’ profile, and those with zero or one had a ‘poor’ sleep profile.

Overall, the researchers concluded that being a night owl and having an abnormal sleep duration were the two factors most likely to age your brain, potentially increasing the risk of cognitive impairment, dementia, and other neurological conditions.

However, it's not all negative; you can change your habits to improve sleep, according to one of the study's co-authors, Abigail Dove, who noted that sleep habits can be enhanced.

In an article for The Conversation, she suggests strategies like limiting caffeine, alcohol, and screen time before bed, and keeping your room quiet and dark.