Sleep stages and chronic disease: a study of 6,785 people

A longitudinal study published in Nature Medicine in 2024 followed 6,785 people from the All of Us Research Program for a median of 4.5 years, using commercial wearable devices linked to electronic health records.

The main finding: more REM sleep and more deep sleep were associated with lower odds of developing atrial fibrillation.

Sleep and heart health

In this study, the share of REM and deep sleep was linked to heart health.

According to the authors, the association holds even when other traditional risk factors are taken into account. The sample should be read for what it is: mostly women, mostly white and mostly with a college degree.

Each percentage increase in REM sleep is associated with reduced incidence of atrial fibrillation (OR 0.86), atrial flutter (OR 0.78) and sinoatrial node dysfunction (OR 0.72). A higher percentage of deep sleep is associated with reduced odds of atrial fibrillation (OR 0.87) and of major depressive disorder (OR 0.93).

Why time matters

In this study, sleep was recorded for years, not for one night. The same holds for you: a single night says little, while months of data are easier to read, together with your doctor.

The Digital Twin and this research

The Digital Twin lines up the data your devices write to your phone, such as steps, heart rate and sleep, and shows you how they change over time. It does not calculate your risk of atrial fibrillation and it does not diagnose: this research describes groups of people, not you. These are data to read together with your doctor.