Health

Do you want to feel younger? Get plenty of sleep

By Mallika Marshall, MD

March 28, 2024 / 6:06 PM EDT / CBS Boston

Study finds that getting more sleep leads to feeling younger

BOSTON - A new study out of Sweden says if you want to feel younger, prioritize getting plenty of sleep.

Feeling younger than your actual age is associated with longer, healthier lives, but many of us wake up thinking, gosh, I sure do feel old. Researchers at Stockholm University conducted a pair of studies and found that the amount of sleep participants got was tied to how old or young they felt.

Feeling extremely alert was related to feeling four years younger than one's actual age, while extreme sleepiness was related to feeling six years older. In other words, going from feeling alert to extremely sleep added 10 years to how old one felt.

So prioritizing sleep can help us feel young and in turn, lead to a more active and healthy lifestyle.

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Mallika Marshall, MD

Mallika Marshall, MD is an Emmy-award-winning journalist and physician who has served as the HealthWatch Reporter for CBS Boston/WBZ-TV for over 20 years. A practicing physician Board Certified in both Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, Dr. Marshall serves on staff at Harvard Medical School and practices at Massachusetts General Hospital at the MGH Chelsea Urgent Care and the MGH Revere Health Center, where she is currently working on the frontlines caring for patients with COVID-19. She is also a host and contributing editor for Harvard Health Publications (HHP), the publishing division of Harvard Medical School.

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