New research published in SLEEP Advances reveals a strong correlation between insufficient sleep and decreased life expectancy, with sleep duration ranking second only to smoking as a behavioral driver.
Key takeaways:
- Insufficient sleep was more strongly associated with decreased life expectancy than diet, exercise, or loneliness, according to a new analysis.
- The study compared county-level life expectancy data with CDC survey data collected between 2019 and 2025.
- Researchers found clear year-to-year correlations between sleep sufficiency and life expectancy in most US states.
- The study defined sufficient sleep as at least seven hours per night, in line with American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommendations.
New research from Oregon Health & Science University suggests that insufficient sleep is a major behavioral driver for life expectancy, with a stronger correlation than diet, exercise, or loneliness.
The study, published in the journal SLEEP Advances, found that among behavioral factors, only smoking was a stronger predictor of life expectancy than sleep insufficiency. Researchers compared county-level data on average life expectancy with survey data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention between 2019 and 2025.
“I didn’t expect it to be so strongly correlated to life expectancy,” says senior author Andrew McHill, PhD, associate professor in the OHSU School of Nursing, the OHSU School of Medicine and OHSU’s Oregon Institute of Occupational Health Sciences, in a release. “We’ve always thought sleep is important, but this research really drives that point home: People really should strive to get seven to nine hours of sleep if at all possible.”
While previous studies have linked inadequate sleep to higher mortality risk, the new research shows year-to-year correlations between sleep and life expectancy for every US state. The effect of insufficient sleep on life expectancy models was greater than that of diet and exercise. For the purpose of the analysis, sufficient sleep was defined as at least seven hours a night, which is recommended by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society.
“It’s intuitive and makes a lot of sense, but it was still striking to see it materialize so strongly in all of these models,” McHill says. “The strength of the association between sleep sufficiency and life expectancy was remarkable to me.”
The statistical analysis did not investigate the mechanisms behind the association, but McHill noted that sleep influences cardiovascular health, the immune system, and brain function.
“This research shows that we need to prioritize sleep at least as much as we do to what we eat or how we exercise,” he says. “Getting a good night’s sleep will improve how you feel but also how long you live.”
