The association between inadequate sleep and accelerated brain ageing
Jivesh Ramduny1, Matteo Bastiani2, Robin Huedepohl3
1Sir Peter Mansfield Imaging Centre, School of Medicine, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK; School of Psychology, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland; Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
Neurobiology of Aging
|March 28, 2022
Summary
Inadequate sleep accelerates brain aging, potentially adding 2 years to brain age in older adults. This study used advanced neuroimaging to link poor sleep quality and fragmentation to accelerated brain aging.
Area of Science:
- Neuroimaging and neuroscience
- Aging research
- Sleep science
Background:
- Brain aging shows significant heterogeneity, influenced by lifestyle factors like sleep.
- Inadequate sleep has been inconsistently linked to gray matter (GM) and white matter (WM) changes.
- Previous studies analyzed GM or WM changes independently.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the covariation between GM and WM in older adults.
- To examine the association between brain age delta and sleep quality/fragmentation.
- To test the hypothesis that inadequate sleep accelerates brain aging.
Main Methods:
- Used linked independent component analysis (FLICA) to analyze GM and WM covariation in 50 older adults.
- Employed a novel technique to estimate brain age delta (difference between chronological and neuroimaging-assessed brain age).
- Assessed associations between brain age delta and sleep quality and fragmentation metrics.
Main Results:
- FLICA identified multimodal components related to age, sleep quality, and sleep fragmentation.
- Significant associations were found between brain age delta and inadequate sleep.
- Inadequate sleep was linked to a brain age deviation approximately 2 years above chronological age.
Conclusions:
- Multimodal neuroimaging approaches are sensitive to the effects of sleep on brain aging.
- Brain age delta is a valuable metric for detecting the impact of inadequate sleep on accelerated brain aging.
- Findings highlight the detrimental effect of poor sleep on brain health in older adults.
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