Menschen, die schlecht schlafen, haben häufiger als andere Gehirne, die älter erscheinen als sie tatsächlich sind. Eine erhöhte Entzündung im Körper kann den Assoziation teilweise erklären

> The study includes 27,500 middle-aged and older people from the UK Biobank who underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain. Using machine learning, the researchers estimated the biological age of the brain based on over a thousand brain MRI phenotypes.

>The participants’ sleep quality was scored based on five self-reported factors: chronotype (being a morning/evening person), sleep duration, insomnia, snoring, and daytime sleepiness. They were then divided into three groups: healthy (≥4 points), intermediate (2-3 points), or poor (≤1 point) sleep. 
>
>“The gap between brain age and chronological age widened by about six months for every 1-point decrease in healthy sleep score,”

> To understand how poor sleep can affect the brain, the researchers also examined levels of low-grade inflammation in the body. They found that inflammation could explain just over ten per cent of the link between poor sleep and older brain age.

> Other possible mechanisms that could explain the association are negative effects on the brain’s waste clearance system, which is active mainly during sleep, or that poor sleep affects cardiovascular health, which in turn can have a negative impact on the brain.

[Poor sleep health is associated with older brain age: the role of systemic inflammation – eBioMedicine](https://www.thelancet.com/journals/ebiom/article/PIIS2352-3964(25)00385-8/fulltext)

This will certainly help me break out of the vicious cycle of being too anxious about not getting good sleep and not being able to fall asleep because of it