New Study Reveals What Happens When You Don't Get Enough REM Sleep … It’s Not Good

A study from Capital Medical University, published in PLOS Medicine, tracked 95,559 people's sleep via wrist accelerometers for a week and followed their health records for a median of 8.9 years. More REM sleep correlated with lower risk of 83 diseases including Parkinson's, dementia and heart disease, while more deep sleep tracked with lower risk of seven conditions including sleep apnea and type 2 diabetes.

Researchers found six to eight hours nightly brought the most benefit, with under five hours linked to worse outcomes and irregular sleep tied to higher rates of osteoarthritis, anxiety and other conditions. The study notes real limits: one week of tracking, a 96.9% white and initially healthy sample, and the possibility that conditions like anxiety caused the sleep problems rather than the other way around.

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