Tailoring Interventions for Optimal Sleep: Uncovering the Four Key Sleep Patterns Tied to Overall Health

Friday - April 5 2024, 08:43 UTC - 9 months ago

Studies show that poor sleep habits are strongly linked to long-term chronic health conditions such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and depression. Researchers have identified four distinct sleep patterns and found that it can be difficult to change these patterns over time. Age, education, and economic conditions can also impact one's sleep, emphasizing the importance of educating the public about good sleep hygiene behaviors and addressing societal and neighborhood influences on sleep.

Poor sleep habits are strongly associated with long-term chronic health conditions, according to decades of research. To better understand this relationship, a team led by researchers in Penn State’s College of Health and Human Development identified four distinct patterns that characterize how most people sleep. These patterns are also predictive of long-term health, the researchers said.

Soomi Lee, associate professor of human development and family studies at Penn State, led a team in identifying these sleep patterns and their correlation to overall health. Their results were published in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine.

Using a national sample of adults from the Midlife in the United States study, the team gathered data on approximately 3,700 participants’ sleep habits and their chronic health conditions across two-time points 10 years apart. The data included self-reported sleep habits, including sleep regularity and duration, perceived sleep satisfaction and daytime alertness, as well as the number and type of chronic conditions.

Researchers used the data to identify four different sleep patterns.

Researchers found that more than half of participants were identified as insomnia sleepers or nappers, both of which are suboptimal sleep patterns. Additionally, being an insomnia sleeper over the 10-year period was associated with a significantly higher likelihood of chronic health conditions, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes and depression.

Results also showed that people were unlikely to change their sleep pattern over the course of the 10 years. This was especially true for insulin sleepers and nappers. The MIDUS study may not represent the entire population, researchers said, as it primarily comprises healthy adults, but — despite this — most participants displayed suboptimal insomnia sleeper or napper sleep patterns.

“These results may suggest that it is very difficult to change our sleep habits because sleep health is embedded into our overall lifestyle. It may also suggest that people still don’t know about the importance of their sleep and about sleep health behaviors,” Lee said. “We need to make more efforts to educate the public about good sleep health. There are sleep hygiene behaviors that people could do to improve their sleep, such as not using cell phones in bed, exercising regularly and avoiding caffeine in the late afternoon.” .

While the sleep patterns were seemingly not age-related, researchers found that older adults and retirees were more likely to be nappers. They also found that those with less education and those facing unemployment were more likely to be insomnia sleepers.

According to Lee, the fact that phase of life and economic conditions can influence longstanding sleep patterns suggests that societal and neighborhood influences — including economic stressors and access to health resources — may have significant effects on individual health.