If you want to live longer, the recipe is very simple: start sleeping 8 hours every day

A large Nature study of about 500,000 adults found that 6 to 8 hours of sleep a night was linked to the lowest biological age.

Sleeping less than 6 hours or more than 8 hours was associated with faster biological aging across 17 organs, based on 23 aging clocks.

Researchers used multi-omics and medical imaging to compare biological age with chronological age, including effects seen in the brain.

The study shows an association, not cause and effect, and long sleep may sometimes reflect underlying health problems such as depression or sleep apnea.