Study: REM Sleep Tied to Lower Risk of 83 Diseases — SkimNews
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- Shengzhi Sun of Capital Medical University and colleagues analyzed wrist accelerometer data from 95,559 UK Biobank participants who wore devices for seven consecutive days and nights, with health outcomes tracked over a median 8.9 years against more than 1,000 disease outcomes.
- Greater REM sleep (per 47.6-minute interquartile increase) was associated with lower risk of 83 conditions, with hazard ratios of 0.74 for heart failure, 0.54 for dementia, and 0.20 for Parkinson's disease.
- Greater deep sleep was linked to lower risk of seven conditions, including type 2 diabetes and major depressive disorder, while greater sleep irregularity and nighttime wakefulness raised risk of anxiety and substance use disorders.
- Sleeping less than 5 hours per night was associated with elevated risk of 37 conditions, with total sleep duration showing a non-linear relationship and lowest disease risk concentrated in a 6-to-8-hour window across 69 disease phenotypes.
- The authors used a deep-learning algorithm to calculate REM, deep, and light sleep stages, but stressed that the observational design cannot establish that sleep patterns directly cause disease risk.
- The study, published September 17 in PLOS Medicine, was supported by Chinese funders including the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the Beijing Outstanding Young Scientist Program.
Why it matters: With 95,559 participants tested against 1,000+ disease outcomes over a median 8.9 years, the study yields one stark, actionable finding: people sleeping under 5 hours faced elevated risk across 37 conditions, giving clinicians a concrete threshold to flag. The research is particularly relevant to China, where the 2026 China Sleep Health White Paper reports 23% of adults sleep under 6 hours and only 26% maintain a consistent sleep schedule.
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