Individuals may experience one of five distinct sleep profiles, each offering insights into how our rest influences overall health. Prior investigations have established links between sleep patterns and cognitive function, mental well-being, and physical ailments like heart disease. However, these earlier studies often focused on isolated aspects of sleep, such as duration or perceived quality.
To adopt a more comprehensive perspective, Valeria Kebets, a researcher at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada, alongside her colleagues, examined the connections between seven sleep-related factors—including sleep satisfaction and the utilization of sleep aids—and 118 other health indicators. These indicators encompassed cognitive abilities, substance use patterns, and mental health status. The research team gathered data, including cognitive assessments, sleep questionnaires, and brain imaging, from 770 healthy adults in the United States, aged between 22 and 36.
This analysis led to the identification of five unique sleep profiles. The first profile was defined by generally poor sleep. This included increased sleep disturbances, reduced sleep satisfaction, and longer times to fall asleep. Individuals in this group also reported worse mental health outcomes, manifesting as symptoms of depression and anxiety, alongside heightened feelings of anger, fear, and stress.
Brain scans from participants in this first category revealed diminished connectivity within neural networks crucial for self-reflection, such as the temporoparietal network. Simultaneously, networks involved in attention and task execution, like the somatomotor and dorsal attention networks, also showed reduced connectivity. The researchers suggest this pattern may indicate disruptions in the brain’s capacity to transition between internal mental states and external environmental awareness. For example, individuals exhibiting these traits might find themselves preoccupied with their thoughts and emotions rather than focusing on their surroundings.
Those falling into the second sleep profile also presented with indications of poorer mental health, specifically related to difficulties with attention, though their sleep quality remained generally good. Kebets described this phenomenon as “sleep resilience,” where adverse mental health did not necessarily translate to sleep disturbances. This group did not display the specific brain connectivity patterns observed in the first profile, suggesting such patterns are directly associated with sleep issues, rather than general mental health concerns.
The third identified profile correlated the use of sleep aids—which can range from prescription medications to herbal teas marketed for sleep—with diminished memory recall and emotional recognition. Emotional recognition, the capacity to discern another person’s emotional state through non-verbal cues like facial expressions or body language, was notably affected. This association might explain the observed decreased connectivity in brain regions associated with vision, memory, and emotion within this group.
A fourth sleep profile was characterized by sleeping fewer than the recommended minimum of 7 hours per night. This sleep duration was linked to reduced accuracy and prolonged reaction times in cognitive tests assessing emotional processing, language comprehension, and social skills. Furthermore, this profile was associated with more aggressive behaviors and increased connectivity across various brain networks. Previous studies on sleep deprivation have reported similar increases in brain connectivity, suggesting that this is a sign of accumulating sleep debt.
Aggression was also a feature of the fifth profile, which was defined by frequent sleep disturbances, such as waking multiple times throughout the night. These disruptions correlated with poorer performance in language processing and working memory tasks. Additionally, individuals in this category exhibited signs of declining mental health, including anxiety symptoms and instances of substance misuse.
These findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the intricate relationship between sleep and overall health, according to Kebets. She emphasized that sleep is fundamental to an individual’s sense of well-being, impacting cognition, physical health, mental health, and substance use—essentially many facets of human functioning.
Kebets noted that not all participants could be neatly categorized into a single profile, and the researchers found evidence of associations rather than causal links between sleep profiles and specific traits. It is acknowledged that a significant portion of the population likely experiences consistently good sleep quality. Additionally, the study’s participant demographics were predominantly white, which may mean that sleep profiles prevalent in other ethnic groups were not captured.