The association between inadequate sleep and accelerated brain ageing

Numerous studies indicate large heterogeneity in brain ageing, which can be attributed to modifiable lifestyle factors, including sleep. Inadequate sleep has been previously linked to gray (GM) and white (WM) matter changes. However, the reported findings are highly inconsistent. By contrast to previous research independently characterizing patterns of either GM or WM changes, we used here linked independent component analysis (FLICA) to examine covariation in GM, and WM in a group of older adults (n = 50). Next, we employed a novel technique to estimate the brain age delta (difference between chronological and brain age assessed using neuroimaging data) and study its associations with sleep quality and sleep fragmentation, hypothesizing that inadequate sleep accelerates brain ageing. FLICA revealed a number of multimodal components, associated with age, sleep quality, and sleep fragmentation. Subsequently, we show significant associations between brain age delta and inadequate sleep, suggesting 2 years deviation above the chronological age. Our findings indicate sensitivity of multimodal approaches and brain age delta in detecting link between inadequate sleep and accelerated brain ageing.