Fun Fact: Sleep Deprivation Could Shorten Your Life

Insufficient sleep doesn’t just make you feel groggy; it may reduce your life expectancy. New study data published in SLEEP Advances highlight this link, an important finding as millions of US adults sleep too little, and research on the connection remains limited.^1,2

“Getting a good night’s sleep will improve how you feel but also how long you live,” Andrew McHill, PhD, senior study author and associate professor in the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) School of Nursing, the OHSU School of Medicine, and the OHSU Oregon Institute of Occupational Health Sciences, said in a news release.¹

How Important Is Sleep?

Good sleep is vital for both physical health and emotional well-being, according to the CDC. It requires getting enough rest and maintaining good sleep quality. The amount of sleep an individual needs also changes throughout their life, with an average of 7 to 9 hours for adults aged between 18 to 64 years and 7 to 8 hours for adults aged 65 and older.³

Getting enough sleep offers numerous health benefits, including reduced illness, maintaining a healthy weight, lower stress levels, and an improved mood. Adequate sleep also supports heart health and metabolism; lowers the risk of chronic conditions such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and stroke; and reduces the risk of motor vehicle crashes. Additionally, it helps memory and supports the effective performance of daily activities.³

Despite its importance, many individuals fail to obtain quality sleep, which means getting uninterrupted and refreshing rest. This is not just about the number of hours slept; it is about how well an individual slept. Signs of poor sleep quality include trouble falling asleep, waking up repeatedly during the night, and feeling tired even after enough sleep. However, what individuals often do not realize is that sleep disruption could be cutting years off their life.³

Understanding the Link Between Poor Sleep and Nighttime Disturbances

Using data from the 2019-2025 CDC Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System surveys, researchers examined how insufficient sleep relates to country-level life expectancy. The analysis accounted for other unhealthy behaviors, including smoking, poor diet, and physical inactivity, across multiple years.^1,2

The results demonstrated that insufficient sleep was linked to a shorter life expectancy in most states from 2019 to 2025, indicating that individuals who slept more tended to live longer. Even after accounting for major mortality risk factors, sleep insufficiency remained a strong predictor of lower life expectancy, second to smoking.^1,2

These findings remind us that a good night’s rest does more than recharge our batteries, and catching extra hours of sleep may be one of the smartest health decisions we can make. It is a vital indicator of long-term health, nearly as influential as smoking.

“This research shows that we need to prioritize sleep at least as much as [we prioritize] what we eat or how we exercise,” McHill concluded. “Sometimes, we think of sleep as something we can set aside and maybe put off until later or on the weekend.”¹

REFERENCES

1. Robinson E. Insufficient sleep associated with decreased life expectancy. OHSU. December 8, 2025. Accessed December 12, 2025. https://news.ohsu.edu/2025/12/08/insufficient-sleep-associated-with-decreased-life-expectancy 

2. Mcauliffe K, Wary M, Pleas G, et al. Sleep insufficiency and life expectancy at the state-county level in the United States, 2019-2025. Sleep Adv. Accepted manuscript. Published online December 8, 2025. doi:10.1093/sleepadvances/zpaf090

3. About sleep. CDC. May 15, 2024. Accessed December 12, 2025. https://www.cdc.gov/sleep/about/index.html