As decades of research have shown, poor sleep habits are closely linked to long-term chronic health conditions. To better understand this link, a team led by researchers at Penn State College of Health and Human Development identified four distinct patterns that characterize most people’s sleep patterns. These patterns also tell us something about long-term health. Soomi Lee, associate professor of human development and family studies at Penn State, led a team in identifying these sleep patterns and their relationship to overall health. Their findings were published in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine.

4 Different Sleep Patterns

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

• Good sleepers, characterized by optimal sleep habits across all data points.
• Weekend late sleepers, characterized by irregular sleep, particularly short average sleep duration but longer sleep times on weekends or non-working days.
• Insomnia sleepers, characterized by sleep problems associated with clinical symptoms of insomnia, including short sleep duration, severe daytime sleepiness and long sleep onset time.
• Nappers characterized by mostly good sleep but frequent naps during the day.

The researchers found that more than half of the participants were identified as insomnia sleepers or nappers, both of which are suboptimal sleep patterns. In addition, being categorized as an insomnia sleeper over a 10-year period was associated with a significantly higher likelihood of chronic health problems, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes and depression. The results also showed that people were unlikely to change their sleep behavior over the 10-year period. This was especially true for sleepers with insomnia and napping. The MIDUS study may not represent the entire population, according to the experts, as it primarily consists of healthy adults, but nevertheless, most of the participants exhibited suboptimal sleep behavior with insomnia or napping.

Healthy Sleep Depends on Several Factors

These findings could suggest that it is very difficult to change our sleep habits, as sleep health is embedded in our general lifestyle. It could also suggest that people are still unaware of the importance of their sleep and how to adopt healthy behaviors. There are sleep hygiene behaviors that people can take to improve their sleep, such as not using cell phones in bed, exercising regularly and avoiding caffeine in the late afternoon. In addition, relaxation techniques such as yoga and meditation can have a positive effect on sleep quality.

Although sleep patterns did not appear to be age-dependent, the researchers found that older adults and retirees were more likely to nap. They also found that people with less education and those affected by unemployment were more prone to insomnia. The fact that life stage and economic conditions can affect long-term sleep behavior suggests, according to the researchers, that societal and neighborhood influences – including economic stressors and access to health resources – can have a significant impact on individual health and, in this case, sleep habits.

All of these findings suggest the need for programs and interventions to promote healthy sleep and healthy sleep habits. The identification of different sleep patterns also suggests that these prevention programs should not be blanket, but can be targeted based on a variety of factors, including chronic disease risk and socioeconomic vulnerability.

Sleep is an everyday behavior. So if we can improve sleep almost every day, what results can we see after a few months or even years? Better sleep habits can make many significant differences, from improving social relationships and work performance to promoting long-term healthy behaviors and healthy aging.