Sleep Regularity is a Stronger Predictor of Mortality than Sleep Duration
Summary
This large study used data from nearly 61,000 adults in the UK Biobank who wore activity monitors for one week to measure how consistent their sleep patterns were. Researchers tracked deaths over the following years and found that people with the most regular sleep schedules had about a 30% lower risk of dying from any cause compared to those with the most irregular schedules. Sleep regularity also predicted deaths from heart and metabolic diseases. While total sleep duration was still important, regularity was an even stronger predictor of long-term survival. These findings suggest that the stability of sleep timing — going to bed and waking up around the same times each day — may be a key factor in long-term health.
Why It Matters For Night Shift Workers and Night Owls
For people who work nights, it’s often impossible to keep “normal” hours — but this research shows that consistency itself matters. Even if the sleep window is shorter or falls at unusual times, keeping bedtime and wake-up time as steady as possible may be more protective than sleep duration alone. For night-shift workers, this highlights why managing regularity — including on days off — could be an important part of long-term health and resilience.
Notes
Sleep (Oxford) commentary and article.