A study involving nearly 100,000 participants has found that the quality of sleep is as important as its duration when assessing disease risk. Researchers from Peking University analyzed health data from 95,559 individuals in the UK Biobank who wore wrist accelerometers for a week and tracked their sleep behaviors over an average of nine years, according to The Independent.
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The research examined various aspects of sleep, including the duration of REM, deep sleep, and light sleep, as well as total sleep time, wakefulness after falling asleep, and consistency in sleep patterns. An increase in REM sleep was linked to a lower risk of 83 health conditions, such as heart failure, dementia, and Parkinson's disease. Additionally, more deep sleep was associated with a reduced risk of seven conditions, including type 2 diabetes and clinical depression.
Conversely, higher sleep irregularity and frequent awakenings correlated with increased risks of anxiety and substance-use disorders. Participants who regularly slept between six to eight hours showed the lowest disease risk. Those who slept less than five hours faced heightened risk for 37 conditions, while those exceeding eight hours also exhibited increased risks.
Researchers emphasized that while the findings are observational and do not confirm direct causation, they reinforce the notion that maintaining a sleep duration of six to eight hours is beneficial for middle-aged and older adults due to a more favorable distribution of sleep stages.