No phenotypic or genotypic evidence for a link between sleep duration and brain atrophy

Anders M. Fjell; Øystein Sørensen; Yunpeng Wang; Inge K. Amlien; William F.C. Baaré; David Bartrés-Faz; Lars Bertram; Carl Johan Boraxbekk; Andreas M. Brandmaier; Ilja Demuth; Christian A. Drevon; Klaus P. Ebmeier; Paolo Ghisletta; Rogier Kievit; Simone Kühn; Kathrine Skak Madsen; Athanasia M. Mowinckel; Lars Nyberg; Claire E. Sexton; Cristina Solé-Padullés; Didac Vidal-Piñeiro; Gerd Wagner; Leiv Otto Watne; Kristine B. Walhovd

doi:10.1038/s41562-023-01707-5

No phenotypic or genotypic evidence for a link between sleep duration and brain atrophy

Anders M. Fjell^*, Øystein Sørensen, Yunpeng Wang, Inge K. Amlien, William F.C. Baaré, David Bartrés-Faz, Lars Bertram, Carl Johan Boraxbekk, Andreas M. Brandmaier, Ilja Demuth, Christian A. Drevon, Klaus P. Ebmeier, Paolo Ghisletta, Rogier Kievit, Simone Kühn, Kathrine Skak Madsen, Athanasia M. Mowinckel, Lars Nyberg, Claire E. Sexton, Cristina Solé-PadullésDidac Vidal-Piñeiro, Gerd Wagner, Leiv Otto Watne, Kristine B. Walhovd

^*Corresponding author for this work

20 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Short sleep is held to cause poorer brain health, but is short sleep associated with higher rates of brain structural decline? Analysing 8,153 longitudinal MRIs from 3,893 healthy adults, we found no evidence for an association between sleep duration and brain atrophy. In contrast, cross-sectional analyses (51,295 observations) showed inverse U-shaped relationships, where a duration of 6.5 (95% confidence interval, (5.7, 7.3)) hours was associated with the thickest cortex and largest volumes relative to intracranial volume. This fits converging evidence from research on mortality, health and cognition that points to roughly seven hours being associated with good health. Genome-wide association analyses suggested that genes associated with longer sleep for below-average sleepers were linked to shorter sleep for above-average sleepers. Mendelian randomization did not yield evidence for causal impacts of sleep on brain structure. The combined results challenge the notion that habitual short sleep causes brain atrophy, suggesting that normal brains promote adequate sleep duration—which is shorter than current recommendations.

Original language	English
Journal	Nature Human Behaviour
Volume	7
Issue number	11
Pages (from-to)	2008-2022
Number of pages	15
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-023-01707-5
Publication status	Published - 11.2023

Funding

Funders	Funder number
California Walnut Commission
Knut och Alice Wallenbergs Stiftelse
Norges Idrettshøgskole
National Association for Public Health
Norges Forskningsråd
Agencia Estatal de Investigación
Horizon 2020
WU-Minn Consortium	1U54MH091657
Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung	677804, 16SV5536K, 01GL1716B, 01GL1716A, 01UW0808, 01UW0706, 16SV5538, 16SV5537, 16SV5837
Horizon 2020 Framework Programme	732592
McDonnell Center for Systems Neuroscience	32048
European Regional Development Fund	NCT01634841
Wellcome Trust	203139
Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad	PSI2015-64227-R
European Research Council	283634, 725025, 313440
Lifelong Health and Well-being Programme	G1001354
Medical Research Council	203139/Z/16/Z

Research Areas and Centers

Academic Focus: Center for Brain, Behavior and Metabolism (CBBM)
Research Area: Medical Genetics

DFG Research Classification Scheme

2.23-06 Molecular and Cellular Neurology and Neuropathology

KDSF Research Field Classification Scheme

231 - Cells and Genes

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1038/s41562-023-01707-5

Cite this

Fjell, A. M., Sørensen, Ø., Wang, Y., Amlien, I. K., Baaré, W. F. C., Bartrés-Faz, D., Bertram, L., Boraxbekk, C. J., Brandmaier, A. M., Demuth, I., Drevon, C. A., Ebmeier, K. P., Ghisletta, P., Kievit, R., Kühn, S., Madsen, K. S., Mowinckel, A. M., Nyberg, L., Sexton, C. E., ... Walhovd, K. B. (2023). No phenotypic or genotypic evidence for a link between sleep duration and brain atrophy. Nature Human Behaviour, 7(11), 2008-2022. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-023-01707-5

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title = "No phenotypic or genotypic evidence for a link between sleep duration and brain atrophy",

abstract = "Short sleep is held to cause poorer brain health, but is short sleep associated with higher rates of brain structural decline? Analysing 8,153 longitudinal MRIs from 3,893 healthy adults, we found no evidence for an association between sleep duration and brain atrophy. In contrast, cross-sectional analyses (51,295 observations) showed inverse U-shaped relationships, where a duration of 6.5 (95\% confidence interval, (5.7, 7.3)) hours was associated with the thickest cortex and largest volumes relative to intracranial volume. This fits converging evidence from research on mortality, health and cognition that points to roughly seven hours being associated with good health. Genome-wide association analyses suggested that genes associated with longer sleep for below-average sleepers were linked to shorter sleep for above-average sleepers. Mendelian randomization did not yield evidence for causal impacts of sleep on brain structure. The combined results challenge the notion that habitual short sleep causes brain atrophy, suggesting that normal brains promote adequate sleep duration—which is shorter than current recommendations.",

author = "Fjell, \{Anders M.\} and {\O}ystein S{\o}rensen and Yunpeng Wang and Amlien, \{Inge K.\} and Baar{\'e}, \{William F.C.\} and David Bartr{\'e}s-Faz and Lars Bertram and Boraxbekk, \{Carl Johan\} and Brandmaier, \{Andreas M.\} and Ilja Demuth and Drevon, \{Christian A.\} and Ebmeier, \{Klaus P.\} and Paolo Ghisletta and Rogier Kievit and Simone K{\"u}hn and Madsen, \{Kathrine Skak\} and Mowinckel, \{Athanasia M.\} and Lars Nyberg and Sexton, \{Claire E.\} and Cristina Sol{\'e}-Padull{\'e}s and Didac Vidal-Pi{\~n}eiro and Gerd Wagner and Watne, \{Leiv Otto\} and Walhovd, \{Kristine B.\}",

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year = "2023",

month = nov,

doi = "10.1038/s41562-023-01707-5",

language = "English",

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Fjell, AM, Sørensen, Ø, Wang, Y, Amlien, IK, Baaré, WFC, Bartrés-Faz, D, Bertram, L, Boraxbekk, CJ, Brandmaier, AM, Demuth, I, Drevon, CA, Ebmeier, KP, Ghisletta, P, Kievit, R, Kühn, S, Madsen, KS, Mowinckel, AM, Nyberg, L, Sexton, CE, Solé-Padullés, C, Vidal-Piñeiro, D, Wagner, G, Watne, LO & Walhovd, KB 2023, 'No phenotypic or genotypic evidence for a link between sleep duration and brain atrophy', Nature Human Behaviour, vol. 7, no. 11, pp. 2008-2022. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-023-01707-5

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T1 - No phenotypic or genotypic evidence for a link between sleep duration and brain atrophy

AU - Fjell, Anders M.

AU - Sørensen, Øystein

AU - Wang, Yunpeng

AU - Amlien, Inge K.

AU - Baaré, William F.C.

AU - Bartrés-Faz, David

AU - Bertram, Lars

AU - Boraxbekk, Carl Johan

AU - Brandmaier, Andreas M.

AU - Demuth, Ilja

AU - Drevon, Christian A.

AU - Ebmeier, Klaus P.

AU - Ghisletta, Paolo

AU - Kievit, Rogier

AU - Kühn, Simone

AU - Madsen, Kathrine Skak

AU - Mowinckel, Athanasia M.

AU - Nyberg, Lars

AU - Sexton, Claire E.

AU - Solé-Padullés, Cristina

AU - Vidal-Piñeiro, Didac

AU - Wagner, Gerd

AU - Watne, Leiv Otto

AU - Walhovd, Kristine B.

PY - 2023/11

Y1 - 2023/11

N2 - Short sleep is held to cause poorer brain health, but is short sleep associated with higher rates of brain structural decline? Analysing 8,153 longitudinal MRIs from 3,893 healthy adults, we found no evidence for an association between sleep duration and brain atrophy. In contrast, cross-sectional analyses (51,295 observations) showed inverse U-shaped relationships, where a duration of 6.5 (95% confidence interval, (5.7, 7.3)) hours was associated with the thickest cortex and largest volumes relative to intracranial volume. This fits converging evidence from research on mortality, health and cognition that points to roughly seven hours being associated with good health. Genome-wide association analyses suggested that genes associated with longer sleep for below-average sleepers were linked to shorter sleep for above-average sleepers. Mendelian randomization did not yield evidence for causal impacts of sleep on brain structure. The combined results challenge the notion that habitual short sleep causes brain atrophy, suggesting that normal brains promote adequate sleep duration—which is shorter than current recommendations.

AB - Short sleep is held to cause poorer brain health, but is short sleep associated with higher rates of brain structural decline? Analysing 8,153 longitudinal MRIs from 3,893 healthy adults, we found no evidence for an association between sleep duration and brain atrophy. In contrast, cross-sectional analyses (51,295 observations) showed inverse U-shaped relationships, where a duration of 6.5 (95% confidence interval, (5.7, 7.3)) hours was associated with the thickest cortex and largest volumes relative to intracranial volume. This fits converging evidence from research on mortality, health and cognition that points to roughly seven hours being associated with good health. Genome-wide association analyses suggested that genes associated with longer sleep for below-average sleepers were linked to shorter sleep for above-average sleepers. Mendelian randomization did not yield evidence for causal impacts of sleep on brain structure. The combined results challenge the notion that habitual short sleep causes brain atrophy, suggesting that normal brains promote adequate sleep duration—which is shorter than current recommendations.

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85166337428

U2 - 10.1038/s41562-023-01707-5

DO - 10.1038/s41562-023-01707-5

M3 - Journal articles

C2 - 37798367

AN - SCOPUS:85166337428

SN - 2397-3374

VL - 7

SP - 2008

EP - 2022

JO - Nature Human Behaviour

JF - Nature Human Behaviour

IS - 11

ER -

No phenotypic or genotypic evidence for a link between sleep duration and brain atrophy

Abstract

Funding

Research Areas and Centers

DFG Research Classification Scheme

KDSF Research Field Classification Scheme

UN SDGs

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Development and validation of DNA-methylation clocks using longitudinal data from the Berlin Aging Study II (BASE-II)

Cite this

No phenotypic or genotypic evidence for a link between sleep duration and brain atrophy

Abstract

Funding

Research Areas and Centers

DFG Research Classification Scheme

KDSF Research Field Classification Scheme

UN SDGs

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Projects

Development and validation of DNA-methylation clocks using longitudinal data from the Berlin Aging Study II (BASE-II)

Cite this