Poor Sleep Traits Elevate Risk for 172 Diseases: New Research

September 15, 2025Poor sleep traits including irregular sleep rhythms, frequent night wakings, and short sleep duration are associated with a higher risk of 172 diseases, according to a new, large-scale international study.1 Sleep traits accounted for a significant portion of the risk (more than 20%) for 92 diseases, including Parkinson’s, pulmonary heart diseases, type 2 diabetes mellitus, liver cirrhosis, acute kidney failure, and gangrene.

Researchers also found that long sleep duration (more than 9 hours) was not associated with poor health outcomes, as was previously thought.This marks the first study relying on objective data to explore associations between multiple dimensions of sleep and risk for a large number of diseases.

Previous studies have focused primarily on sleep duration, often relying on subjective, self-reported data.“As a complex physiological process that occupies about one-third of human life, sleep may have different effects in relation to different systems,” explained the study’s authors.Researchers from Peking University and Army Medical University collected data on multiple dimensions of sleep for 88,461 participants over a period of 6.8 years, on average.

The study tracked six sleep traits, grouped into three categories:For 92 conditions, more than 20% of the risk of disease was attributable to poor sleep behavior.