Do you feel old and worn out after one or two short nights? That is normal. People who don’t get enough sleep can quickly feel five to ten years older than they really are. This is evident from two new scientific studies, published in the journal Proceedings of the royal society b.
A team of Swedish psychologists asked 186 volunteers between the ages of 18 and 46 about the duration of their night’s sleep. They then also asked how the people felt after a short or longer night. What seems? When the participants slept barely four hours for two consecutive nights, they felt on average 4.44 years older. Some of them indicated that they felt ten years older due to the consequences of not getting enough sleep.
According to psychologists, the perception that you are much older could negatively affect one’s general health. They suggest that the feeling can lead to the person in question seeking less social contact, less desire to gain new experiences, less exercise and an unhealthier diet. After a nine-hour night, the opposite effect was reported. Small detail: the rejuvenating effect is a lot more modest. The participants generally felt only three months younger after a refreshing night’s sleep.
For a second study from the same team, 429 people aged 18 to 70 were asked how old they felt and how many nights they had slept poorly in the past month. After every bad night, respondents felt on average three months older. Those who had no bad nights in the previous month felt on average almost six years younger than their actual age.
Both tests lead to the same conclusion. “If you want to feel young, it is important that you get enough sleep,” said Leonie Balter, lead researcher and psychoneuroimmunologist at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. “Sleep has a major influence on how old you feel and that is not just due to your long-term sleeping pattern. Even sleeping two nights less appears to have a real impact.”
