- Getting enough high-quality sleep is essential for health and wellbeing but how do we know whether the sleep we are getting is meeting our needs?
- Now, a study has identified five distinct sleep profiles, linking brain activity and sleep quality with a number of different health and lifestyle outcomes.
- The researchers suggest that sleep profiles are linked to not only health and behavior, but also to the wiring and activity of the brain.
Do you have trouble falling asleep, or waking frequently during the night? It could be because of how your brain is wired, and may be affecting your mental and physical health, according to new research.
A study conducted by researchers in Canada and Singapore, using patient-reported sleep, health and lifestyle factors, as well as brain imaging, has identified five distinct sleep profiles.
The research, published in PLOS Biology, found that each of the profiles showed unique patterns of brain network organization, and was linked to different mental and physical health traits.
Valeria Kebets, PhD, co-first author of this study, who is currently manager of machine learning projects at the Applied AI Institute, Concordia University in Montreal, Canada, told Medical News Today that:
“The most important finding of our study is that sleep is multi-dimensional, and some of the profiles show that specific aspects of sleep are related to mental health or cognitive performance in a distinct way.”
The researchers analyzed data from 770 healthy adults aged between 22 and 36 years of age from the WU-Minn Human Connectome Project (HCP), a study investigating the relationship between human brain circuits and behavior.
All participants filled in questionnaires about their lifestyle, mental and physical Health, personality and objective measures of physical Health and cognition. They also completed sleep Health questionnaires to define different dimensions of sleep, including duration, satisfaction and disturbances.
In addition to the self-reported questionnaires, participants underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans to identify neural signatures of their sleep profiles.
The researchers outlined their objective, saying that: “[I]n this study, we sought to take a multidimensional data-driven approach to identify sleep-biopsychosocial profiles that simultaneously relate self-reported sleep patterns to biopsychosocial factors of health, cognition, and lifestyle in the [healthcare professional] cohort of healthy young adults. We further explored patterns of brain network organization associated with each profile to better understand their neurobiological underpinnings.”
The researchers identified 5 profiles related to 118 biopsychosocial measures — spanning cognitive performance, physical and mental Health, personality traits, affects, substance use, and demographics — as follows:
- Profile 1: generally poor sleep, with decreased sleep satisfaction, longer time to fall asleep, more sleep disturbances, and daytime impairment. This was linked to depression, anxiety, somatic complaints, internalizing behavior, fear, anger, and stress.
- Profile 2: higher complaints of daytime impairment without complaints of sleep difficulties, suggesting sleep resilience, linked to attentional problems, such as inattention, ADHD, low conscientiousness, fear, anger and stress.
- Profile 3: mostly characterized by the use of sleep medication. This was linked to worse performance in visual episodic memory and emotional recognition, but also to satisfaction in social relationships.
- Profile 4: insufficient duration of sleep (less than 6–7 hours per night), which was associated with worse accuracy and longer reaction time at multiple cognitive tasks, delayed reward discounting, language, fluid intelligence, and social cognition, as well as more aggressive behavior and lower agreeableness.
- Profile 5: sleep disturbances, such as multiple awakenings, nocturia (waking frequently to urinate), and breathing issues, as well as pain or temperature imbalance. This group tended to show aggressive behavior, worse cognitive performance, anxiety, thought problems and internalisation, and substance abuse.
Kebets outlined the potential clinical significance of their findings, saying that:
“The five profiles were found in a sample of healthy young adults that didn’t have a psychiatric diagnosis or disabilities, suggesting that they could be used as a marker for the development of future issues, and they can guide tailored interventions.”
Each profile was associated with a unique brain-network organization, having distinct patterns of network connectivity within the brain.
However, the researchers emphasize that further research is needed to clarify the relationships between the sleep profiles and brain network connectivity.
“We found some patterns of brain connectivity that were specific to each profile, but overall we observed dysfunctional connectivity patterns in the brain networks that are responsible for motor and visual functions,” Kebets told us.
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But how can you ensure that you get enough quality sleep?
Experts suggest the following may help:
- exercise regularly — try to get 20-30 minutes of exercise a day, but do not engage in intense exercise too close to bedtime
- ensure that your mattress is comfortable and supportive — if it is old or not a good fit for you, this can lead to sleep issues
- limit alcohol consumption at night — although it can make you fall asleep faster, it can disrupt your sleep patterns and increase waking, snoring, and even
sleep apnea - avoid large meals and beverages close to bedtime, as these can cause indigestion and a need to urinate, which will disturb sleep
- try to go to bed and wake up at around the same time each day
- make sure your bedroom is a comfortable environment for sleeping in — keeping it cool (60–70 degrees Fahrenheit) and dark will help your sleep
- take time to wind down before bedtime, by meditating, reading a book, taking a hot bath or shower, or listening to music.
“General advice would be to keep good sleep habits — e.g., limit using your phone in the hour before going to sleep, limit alcohol/drug use, and have a regular bed time. Regularity is really key,” Kebets also told us.
“Sleep is central to your daily functioning — your mental health, your ability to think properly and memorize things, your mood and behavior. Don’t hesitate to talk about your sleep complaints (short sleep duration, sleep awakenings, long sleep latency, etc.) to your [family doctor] to have appropriate advice on the intervention that could help your specific issue.”
— Valeria Kebets, PhD
