{"id":2000126918,"date":"2026-09-25T12:08:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-25T10:08:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/?p=2000126918"},"modified":"2026-09-25T12:08:24","modified_gmt":"2026-09-25T10:08:24","slug":"more-time-in-dream-sleep-linked-to-lower-risk-of-dozens-of-diseases","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/more-time-in-dream-sleep-linked-to-lower-risk-of-dozens-of-diseases\/","title":{"rendered":"More time in dream sleep linked to lower risk of dozens of diseases"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The study, published in PLOS Medicine<\/em>, examined real-world sleep patterns and their relationship with more than 1,000 health outcomes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Researchers analysed data from 95,559 UK Biobank participants who wore wrist accelerometers continuously for seven days and nights. Participants were then followed for a median of 8.9 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using a deep-learning algorithm, researchers estimated participants’ REM, deep and light sleep, as well as total sleep duration, periods of wakefulness during the night and night-to-night sleep irregularity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The researchers found that greater amounts of REM sleep were associated with a lower risk of 83 diseases. These included heart failure, dementia and Parkinson’s disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An increase of about 47.6 minutes in REM sleep, representing the interquartile range used in the analysis, was associated with a 26% lower risk of heart failure, a 46% lower risk of dementia and an 80% lower risk of Parkinson’s disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The study also found that greater amounts of deep sleep were associated with a lower risk of seven conditions, including type 2 diabetes and major depressive disorder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sleep consistency also appeared to matter. Greater night-to-night sleep irregularity and more time awake after initially falling asleep were associated with higher risks of several conditions, including anxiety and substance use disorders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The researchers also found a non-linear relationship between total sleep duration and disease risk. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For many conditions, the lowest levels of risk were concentrated among people who slept between six and eight hours per night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By comparison, people who slept for less than five hours had an increased risk associated with 37 conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the researchers stressed that the findings show associations rather than proof of cause and effect. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because the study was observational, it cannot establish that getting more REM or deep sleep directly prevents disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The study also relied on sleep measurements collected over seven days, meaning those measurements may not fully represent participants’ long-term sleep patterns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The authors said the findings provide additional evidence that sleep duration and the distribution of different sleep stages may be important for health, particularly among middle-aged and older adults.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They identified 156 significant associations between sleep patterns and diseases after statistical correction, highlighting the broad relationship observed between sleep characteristics and long-term health outcomes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
More REM and deep sleep were associated with lower risks of several diseases in a study of more than 95,000 UK Biobank participants.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

People who spend more time in rapid eye movement (REM) sleep may have a lower risk of developing dozens of diseases, according to a large study involving more than 95,000 people.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":2000126919,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"byline":[201],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-2000126918","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","byline-rania-umutoni"],"bylines":[{"id":201,"name":"Rania Umutoni","slug":"rania-umutoni","description":"","image":{"id":2000122457,"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/08\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-08-14-at-12.00.00-PM.jpeg","title":"WhatsApp Image 2026-08-14 at 12.00.00 PM","mime_type":"image\/jpeg"},"user_id":139}],"contributors":[{"id":201,"name":"Rania Umutoni","slug":"rania-umutoni","description":"","image":{"id":2000122457,"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/08\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-08-14-at-12.00.00-PM.jpeg","title":"WhatsApp Image 2026-08-14 at 12.00.00 PM","mime_type":"image\/jpeg"},"user_id":139}],"featured_image":{"id":2000126919,"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/09\/man-sleeping-with-stars.webp","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/webp","width":1920,"height":1080,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/09\/man-sleeping-with-stars.webp","width":1920,"height":1080},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/09\/man-sleeping-with-stars.webp","width":1920,"height":1080},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/09\/man-sleeping-with-stars.webp","width":1920,"height":1080},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/09\/man-sleeping-with-stars.webp","width":1920,"height":1080},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/09\/man-sleeping-with-stars.webp","width":1920,"height":1080}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000126918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2000126918"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000126918\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2000127077,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000126918\/revisions\/2000127077"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000126919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2000126918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2000126918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2000126918"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=2000126918"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=2000126918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}