Sleeping less ‘could help you age better’ says new study

Specialists analysed sleep data from around half a million people in the UK (Picture: Getty Images)

We’ve all heard the same advice about sleep for years and years now, haven’t we? We all need to get eight hours of it a night.

It’s become one of those unshakable health rules that sits alongside drinking more (and more) water and eating five portions of fruit and vegetables a day.

Most people accept it without much argument.

But a huge study suggests that the magic number may not actually be eight after all.

Researchers examined sleep data from around 500,000 people taking part in the UK Biobank, a long-running health project in Britain. They compared part...