Overview
- The analysis, published as a conference abstract on June 2 and scheduled for presentation at SLEEP 2026 on June 17, used an online survey of 3,177 adults with a mean age of 42.8 years.
- Researchers measured subjective age as the gap between how old people feel and their chronological age and found that a positive age discrepancy (feeling older) predicted worse sleep outcomes after adjusting for age, sex, race, depression, and anxiety.
- Adults who reported feeling older than their years also reported more insomnia symptoms, less regular sleep schedules, and greater daytime sleep-related impairment.
- Parallel mediation analyses linked higher age discrepancy to poorer self-reported physical health indirectly through worse insomnia severity, irregular sleep, and daytime impairment.
- The study is cross-sectional and based on self-report data, so it cannot establish causation; investigators and funders including the National Institute on Aging say further peer-reviewed reporting and work on clinical or public-health interventions are needed.