--- title: Less Sleep Pushes Brain to Age Faster description: Researchers find connection between sleep deprivation and a marker of aging brains canonical: https://time.com/2946814/less-sleep-pushes-your-brain-to-age-faster/ author: Alice Park article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-07-02T12:00:52.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T08:55:49.239Z article:section: Health og:title: Less Sleep Pushes Brain to Age Faster og:description: Researchers find connection between sleep deprivation and a marker of aging brains og:url: https://time.com/2946814/less-sleep-pushes-your-brain-to-age-faster/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Less Sleep Pushes Brain to Age Faster twitter:description: Researchers find connection between sleep deprivation and a marker of aging brains twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Less Sleep Pushes Your Brain to Age Faster  by [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent Jul 2, 2014 12:00 PM UTC  by [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent Jul 2, 2014 12:00 PM UTC We know that sleep is important for a host of body functions, from weight control to brain activities, but the latest study hints that it may also keep aging processes in check. Scientists at the Duke-NUS Graduate School Singapore report in the journal _Sleep_ that among a group of 66 elderly Chinese volunteers, those who reported sleeping less each night on average showed swelling of a brain region indicating faster cognitive decline. The participants had MRI brain scans every two years, and answered questions about their sleep habits as well. Other studies have suggested that adults need about seven hours of sleep a night to maintain proper brain function; future research will investigate how sleep helps to preserve cognitive functions and hold off more rapid aging. Less Sleep Pushes Brain to Age Faster ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2946814/less-sleep-pushes-your-brain-to-age-faster/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2946814/less-sleep-pushes-your-brain-to-age-faster/"},"headline":"Less Sleep Pushes Your Brain to Age Faster","datePublished":"2014-07-02T12:00:52.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T08:55:49.239Z","description":"Researchers find connection between sleep deprivation and a marker of aging brains","url":"https://time.com/2946814/less-sleep-pushes-your-brain-to-age-faster/","keywords":["Sleep","Aging","sleep deprivation"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alice Park","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/alice-park/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/sleep/","name":"Sleep"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2946814/less-sleep-pushes-your-brain-to-age-faster/","name":"Less Sleep Pushes Your Brain to Age Faster"}}]}] ```