The Sleep Issue You Shouldn't Ignore If You Care About Longevity
You can be exhausted all day and still lie awake the moment your head hits the pillow. Night after night, chronic insomnia can leave you foggy, frustrated, and wondering whether your body has forgotten how to sleep.
A recent study1 asked whether insomnia affects more than energy and focus. Could treating it also change the pace of biological aging?
About the study
Researchers analyzed data from a randomized controlled trial involving 92 adults ages 60 and older.
About half received cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I), which targets the thoughts and habits that keep insomnia going. The rest received sleep education therapy (SET), focused on sleep habits and biology without the same behavioral techniques.
The researchers measured biological aging, or how quickly the body appears to be aging based on biological markers. They used three tools at the start of the study and again about two years later: DunedinPACE, GrimAge, and PhenoAge.
That question matters because chronic insomnia has been linked to cardiovascular problems, cognitive changes, and frailty. The researchers wanted to know whether treating insomnia could affect one part of the aging process.
CBT-I was linked to slower aging on one measure
After about two years, the CBT-I group showed a significantly slower pace of biological aging on DunedinPACE than the sleep education group.
CBT-I also worked better against insomnia itself. About one-third of participants reached full remission, meaning they no longer met the study's criteria for chronic insomnia. Only 13% of the sleep education group did.
The results were not consistent across all three aging measures. GrimAge and PhenoAge showed no statistically significant difference between the groups.
One showed a similar trend, but chance could not be ruled out.
So, the study offers an encouraging signal, not proof that treating insomnia will help people live longer or slow aging in every biological sense.
What it could mean for longevity
Because participants were assigned to different treatments, the researchers could examine whether improving insomnia was linked to changes in biological aging over time, rather than simply observing that poor sleep and poor health occur together.
Still, the study was small, and the aging analysis was exploratory. Larger studies must confirm the finding and determine whether changes in biological aging lead to better healthspan or a longer life.
The practical message is simpler: chronic insomnia deserves treatment, even without the longevity angle.
If insomnia has become your norm
If poor sleep is affecting your days, take practical steps to address it rather than simply accepting it as part of aging.
- Schedule an appointment with your doctor or a sleep specialist. Ask whether your symptoms could be related to chronic insomnia, sleep apnea, restless legs syndrome, medication side effects, pain, depression, anxiety, or another treatable condition.
- Ask specifically about CBT-I. It is the first-line treatment for chronic insomnia and can help change the thoughts, routines, and behaviors that keep sleep problems going. It may be available in person, through telehealth, or with a clinician-guided digital program.
- Keep a sleep diary for one to two weeks. Record when you go to bed, how long it takes to fall asleep, nighttime awakenings, your wake time, naps, caffeine, alcohol, exercise, and how rested you feel. This can help your clinician identify patterns.
- Keep a consistent wake time. Getting up at roughly the same time every day helps reinforce your body's sleep-wake rhythm, even after a poor night.
- Use your bed mainly for sleep. If you are awake and frustrated for a prolonged period, get up and do something quiet in dim light. Return to bed when you feel sleepy.
- Protect the conditions that support sleep. Keep your bedroom cool, dark, and quiet, and limit bright screens and stimulating activities close to bedtime.
- Review substances that can disrupt sleep. Caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, and some medications can make it harder to sleep or stay asleep, and common over-the-counter sleep aids come with their own tradeoffs. Ask a clinician before changing any prescribed medication.
- Support your broader health. Regular daytime movement, time outdoors, a balanced diet, social connection, and management of blood pressure and other chronic conditions can all contribute to better overall health.
Better sleep can support your mood, thinking, and physical health. You do not need a biological aging test to know that treating persistent insomnia is worthwhile.
The takeaway
CBT-I may slow biological aging, but current evidence is early and limited to one of three aging measures.
For now, it remains a proven treatment for chronic insomnia, with a possible longevity benefit researchers are still investigating.