More REM sleep linked to lower risk of 83 diseases in UK Biobank study

September 23, 2026 at 05:00 AM2 min

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Greater REM sleep was associated with a lower risk of 83 diseases, including heart failure, dementia, and Parkinson's disease, in a study of 95,559 UK Biobank participants. Deep sleep was linked to lower risk of 7 conditions, while less than 5 hours of total sleep was associated with elevated risk of 37 conditions. The observational study, published in PLOS Medicine, cannot establish causation.

Key Facts

The study analyzed data from 95,559 UK Biobank participants who wore wrist accelerometers for seven consecutive days and nights.
Greater REM sleep, per interquartile range of 47.6 minutes, was associated with a lower risk of 83 diseases, including heart failure (hazard ratio 0.74), dementia (hazard ratio 0.54), and Parkinson's disease (hazard ratio 0.20).
Greater deep sleep was linked to a lower risk of 7 conditions, including type 2 diabetes and major depressive disorder.
People sleeping less than 5 hours faced an increased risk of 37 conditions, with the lowest disease risk concentrated in a 6-to-8-hour sleep window.
The study was published September 17 in PLOS Medicine by Shengzhi Sun of Capital Medical University, China, and colleagues.

Study Design

Researchers analyzed data from 95,559 UK Biobank participants who wore wrist accelerometers for seven consecutive days and nights. A deep-learning algorithm calculated sleep stages (REM, deep, and light sleep), total sleep duration, wakefulness after sleep onset, and night-to-night sleep irregularity. Participants were followed for a median of 8.9 years, and health records were available to test for associations with more than 1,000 disease outcomes. The study was published September 17 in the open access journal PLOS Medicine by Shengzhi Sun of Capital Medical University, China, and colleagues.

Disease Associations

Greater REM sleep (per interquartile range, 47.6 minutes) was associated with a lower risk of 83 diseases, including heart failure (hazard ratio 0.74), dementia (hazard ratio 0.54), and Parkinson's disease (hazard ratio 0.20). Greater deep sleep was linked to lower risk of 7 conditions, including type 2 diabetes and major depressive disorder. Greater sleep irregularity and wakefulness after sleep onset were each linked to higher risk of several conditions, including anxiety and substance use disorders. Total sleep duration showed a non-linear relationship with disease risk for many conditions, with the lowest risk concentrated in a 6-to-8-hour window. People sleeping less than 5 hours faced the most elevated clinical vulnerability, with an increased risk of 37 conditions.

China Sleep Context

Sleep quantity and quality is a priority of China's National Health Commission and a focus in China more broadly. The most recent 2026 China Sleep Health White Paper finds that while the average surveyed Chinese person sleeps 6.97 hours per night, 23 percent sleep less than 6 hours per night. The same report notes that only 26 percent of respondents reported a consistent sleep schedule, and that disturbances to sleep have increased over time. The authors state that maintaining a sleep duration of 6-8 hours can effectively reduce the risk of multiple diseases, providing new insights for health promotion and preventive practice.