REM Sleep Tied to 83 Lower Disease Risks

A study of 95,559 UK Biobank adults who wore wrist accelerometers for seven consecutive days found greater REM sleep associated with lower risks of 83 diseases across nearly nine years of health-record follow-up. Greater REM tracked with an 80% lower relative risk of Parkinson's disease, a 46% lower risk of dementia and a 26% lower risk of heart failure. Greater deep sleep was associated with lower risks of seven conditions including type 2 diabetes and major depressive disorder. Six to eight hours a night was associated with the lowest risk for 69 diseases; fewer than five hours was linked to increased risk of 37 conditions. Researchers in China used deep-learning tools to analyze REM, deep sleep, light sleep, duration, night wakefulness and irregularity. Results ran Sept. 17 in PLOS Medicine. Oki Ishikawa, quoted by Fox News Digital, said total sleep duration and the percentage that is REM matter, noted the study average of about 20% REM falls in the normal 20-25% range, and said the key message is getting enough sleep for immune function and memory. CONTESTED: Chelsie Rohrscheib said Parkinson's, dementia and heart failure can begin affecting sleep years before diagnosis, and poor sleep may also contribute to progression, so the relationship likely works both ways. She said sleep was measured for only one week on a wrist device less accurate than a clinical sleep study; some health information was collected years earlier; medications that affect sleep were not fully considered; and some diagnoses may have been missed. She said the study cannot determine whether poor sleep is a cause, an early symptom, or both.