In This ArticleView AllIn This ArticleThe #1 Habit to Live LongerSleep and LongevityHow Much Do You Need?Tips to Get More SleepThe Bottom Line
In This ArticleView All
View All
In This Article
The #1 Habit to Live Longer
Sleep and Longevity
How Much Do You Need?
Tips to Get More Sleep
The Bottom Line
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Photo:Adene Sanchez/Getty Images
Adene Sanchez/Getty Images
You’ve no doubt read hundreds of articles over the years with helpful advice for creating healthy habits that improve the quality and quantity of your life—everything fromwalking 10,000 steps a dayand eating more of a plant-based diet to staying hydrated and keeping a gratitude journal.
And while all of these are indeedhealthy habits, they only yield their most impressive results when paired with one critical habit that’s often overlooked. In fact, according to theNational Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, 1 in 3 adults aren’t meeting the bare minimum in this category (a category as basic as the need to eat, drink or breathe), and this deficiency could lead to a host of physical and mental problems, injuries, loss of productivity and a greater likelihood of early death.
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What Is the #1 Habit to Start to Live Longer?
The most important habit to start ASAP if you’re one of the 33% of American adults who don’t get enough rest or sleep every day is getting your full 40 winks each night.
“Sleep plays a critical role in every aspect of our physical, cognitive and emotional health and well-being,” saysShantha Gowda, Psy.D., DBSM, a licensed clinical health psychologist who is board-certified in behavioral sleep medicine and built the first sleep and circadian health program for the Marine Corps Special Operations Command. “Insufficient sleep adversely affects all of our organ systems.”
But it goes beyond that—many experts consider sufficient sleep the key to longevity, and study results support this theory.
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How Does Adequate Sleep Increase Longevity?
Sure, enough sleep can improve your mood and help you meet the demands of everyday life, but those obvious results are just the tip of the iceberg.
“Adequate sleep is crucial for maintaining genomic stability, reducing oxidative stress and enhancing telomere length, all of which are hallmarks associated with aging,” says sleep and longevity expertAlka Patel, M.B.B.S. “In the context of longevity, sleep is not just a passive state but an active, dynamic process crucial for maintaining health and optimizing longevity.”
Additionally, she explains that sleep supports neuroplasticity, the brain’s capacity to change and rewire itself based on learning and experience, which is essential for cognitive health and memory consolidation. Also, it regulates the hormones responsible for appetite, thus playing a role in maintaining healthy body weight and reducing the risk of metabolic disorders.
Patel says that the research on the relationship between deep sleep and Alzheimer’s disease from the University of California, Berkeley, provides some compelling insights: The small study published in 2023 inBMC Medicinesuggests that non-REM slow-wave sleep, also known as deep sleep, can act as a protective factor against the memory decline associated with Alzheimer’s disease. The study found that those with higher amounts of deep sleep showed better memory function than those with less deep sleep.
An older study published in 2010 in theJournal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolismprovides significant insights into the relationship between sleep and metabolic health, particularly focusing on how sleep deprivation can lead to insulin resistance, Patel continues. This study demonstrates that even a single night of partial sleep deprivation can induce insulin resistance in multiple metabolic pathways in healthy subjects.
And one 2023 study addressing sleep and longevity from theAmerican College of Cardiologyhighlights the importance of both quantity and quality sleep in reducing all-cause mortality and cardiovascular mortality. “We know that poor sleep quality/quantity increases the risk for heart disease, and this supports this concept—emphasizing that the more beneficial sleep habits an individual has, the less likely they are to die early,” says Gowda.
How Much Sleep Do You Really Need?
Most adults know their own sweet spot, whether or not they routinely achieve it, and rely on such indicators as dozing off at inappropriate times, dark circles under their eyes and dips in concentration, energy levels or mood reflected in day-to-day activities to know when they’ve been missing the mark too often.
“When you wake up feeling refreshed and productive as you tackle your day and don’t have overall complaints about your sleep, these are typical signs you’re getting sufficient quality and quantity sleep,” saysLara Barbir, M.S., Psy.D., a Southern California-based clinical psychologist and supervisor specializing in trauma, sleep medicine and women’s health.
Of course, you don’t want to swing that pendulum too far in the slumber direction, either. “It’s important to note that there’s a certain threshold point where gettingtoomuch sleep is actually associated with increased risk of mortality,” Barbir cautions.
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How to Get More Sleep
Assuming you’ve already created an environmentconducive to sleep—such as a cool temperature, blackout curtains or an eye mask, and white noise or earplugs—try the following tips for increasing your nightly shut-eye:
Sacrificing sleep to meet life’s nonstop demands may seem like a harmless choice in the moment. Still, sleep deprivation does more than leave you a bit cranky or foggy-brained—plus, it has been shown to have an adverse relationship to longevity. By prioritizing a full night’s sleep on a regular basis, you’re providing your body with an optimal environment that will help you thrive for decades to come. So go ahead and take that catnap, skip an early-morning workout if you didn’t sleep well the night before, and slip into bed an hour earlier if the mood strikes, sans guilt. Prioritize sleep like your life depends on it.
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