Secret to feeling decades younger is for the over-50s to get a good night’s sleep

POOR sleep over in the over-50s makes you wake up feeling old and impacts your health.

Rough nights compared to a peaceful slumber can be the difference to feeling decades younger or older, according to a study.

Feeling older than your age was linked with impacting physical, mental and cognitive health, such as having a poorer memory, less energy and decreased motivation.

In the study, University of Exeter researchers asked 4,482 people aged 50 and over to take cognitive tests and complete lifestyle questionnaires. Researchers noted many participants commented on their relationship with sleep as part of standard questionnaires within the study.

One said: “How I feel fluctuates widely depending on my sleep. I feel great if I get six hours, so about half the time I feel younger and half the time I feel older.”

The participants completed questionnaires twice, one year apart.

Lead author Serena Sabatini, of the University of Exeter, said: “As we age, we all experience both positive and negative changes in many areas of our lives. However, some people perceive more negative changes than others.

“As we know that having a negative perception of ageing can be detrimental to future physical health, mental health, and cognitive health, an open question in ageing research is to understand what makes people more negative about ageing.

“Our research suggests that poor sleepers feel older, and have a more negative perception of their ageing. We need to study this further – one explanation could be that a more negative outlook influences both.

“However, it could be a sign that addressing sleep difficulties could promote a better perception of ageing, which could have other health benefits.”