Short Sleep Duration Is Associated with Shorter Telomere Length in Healthy Men: Findings from the Whitehall II Cohort Study
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BACKGROUND: Shorter telomere length and poor sleep are more prevalent at older ages, but their relationship is uncertain. This study explored associations between sleep duration and telomere length in a sample of healthy middle and early old age people. METHODS: Participants were 434 men and women aged 63.3 years on average drawn from the Whitehall II cohort study. Sleep duration was measured by self-report. RESULTS: There was a linear association between sleep duration and leukocyte telomere length in men but not in women (P = 0.035). Men reporting shorter sleep duration had shorter telomeres, independently of age, body mass index, smoking, educational attainment, current employment, cynical hostility scores and depressive symptoms. Telomeres were on average 6% shorter in men sleeping 5 hours or fewer compared with those sleeping more than 7 hours per night. CONCLUSION: This study adds to the growing literature relating sleep duration with biomarkers of aging, and suggests that shortening of telomeres might reflect mechanisms through which short sleep contributes to pathological conditions in older men.
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Other studies reported an association between self-reported indices of sleep disturbances and higher CRP levels in women only.
“Other studies reported such an association in women only”
From The Sleep-Immune Crosstalk in Health and Disease (2019) · cites this paper as [268]
Several studies did not find an association between inflammatory markers and sleep duration.
“several studies did not find an association between inflammatory markers and sleep duration”
From The Sleep-Immune Crosstalk in Health and Disease (2019) · cites this paper as [268]
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References 41 · Cited by 127
- Authors
- Jackowska, M., Hamer, M., Carvalho, L. A., Erusalimsky, J. D., Butcher, L., & Steptoe, A.
- Affiliations
- University College London (GB)
- Cardiff Metropolitan University (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Jackowska, Marta
- Venue
- PLoS ONE
- Publisher
- Public Library of Science (PLoS)
- Published
- 2012-10-29
- Volume
- 7
- Issue
- 10
- Pages
- e47292
- ISSN
- 1932-6203 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3483149
- OpenAlex
- W2049419835
- Cited by
- 127
- References
- 41
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 13 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 32 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 7 · 2014: 6 · 2013: 6
- FWCI
- 4.07
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- PLoS ONE (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Loughborough University Institutional Repository (Loughborough University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- Loughborough University Research Repository (Loughborough University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- British Heart Foundation (RG/05/006)
- Directorate for Biological Sciences
- Medical Research Council (G0601647)
- Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Telomeres, Telomerase, and Senescence
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Sleep and related disorders
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Sleep and Wakefulness Research
- Keywords
- sleep duration, telomere length, leukocyte telomeres, aging biomarkers, short sleep duration, middle-aged and older adults, sex differences, men, Whitehall II cohort
- MeSH terms
- Aged, Educational Status, Female, Humans, Leukocytes, Male, Middle Aged, Sex Factors, Sleep, Time Factors, Cohort Studies, Telomere, Self Report, Telomere Shortening, Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction
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