Abstract
Sleep, a fundamental biological process, plays a crucial role in health and longevity across species. This study investigates the intricate relationship between sleep characteristics and lifespan in Mediterranean fruit flies (medflies), transcending the traditional focus on sleep duration. We identify specific sleep characteristics that are associated with remaining lifespan and also characterize how sleep patterns change with aging. Longer, uninterrupted sleep bouts are linked to extended lifespans, while increased nighttime activity, particularly in the first half of the night, correlates with reduced longevity. To our knowledge, this is the first study with continuous monitoring of night activity throughout the entire lifespan. It underscores the important role of sleep patterns beyond duration in shaping lifespan.
Acknowledgements
Research funded in part by a grant to J.R.C. from the Center for the Economics and Demography of Aging, UC Berkeley (NIH 2P30AG012839), and in part by the NSF grant DMS-2310450 to H.-G.M. The funding body played no role in study design, data collection, analysis and interpretation of data, or the writing of this manuscript.
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Kundu, P., Iao, S.I., Chen, H. et al. Sleep bout length and nighttime activity predict longevity in medflies.
npj Aging (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41514-026-00481-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41514-026-00481-8
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