Your 'sleep profile' sheds light on health, lifestyle and cognition, new study shows

Five distinct sleep patterns are tied to your health, lifestyle, cognition and even how different regions of your brain connect to one another.

Just as a single night of insomnia may leave you feeling groggy and cranky, solid slumber can help you feel rested and ready to take on the day. How well you sleep over time, however, can influence deeper aspects of your health and well-being, new research shows.

Five distinct sleep patterns are tied to your health, lifestyle and cognition and even how different regions of your brain connect to one another, according to a study published Tuesday in the journal PLOS Biology.

Specifically, those “sleep-biopsychosocial profiles” encompass biological, psychological and socioenvironmental factors — such as having a safe, comfortable place to sleep — that contribute to your sleep hygiene.

Much of sleep medicine research focuses on specific problems, such as sleep apnea’s link to cognitive decline, how insomnia affects the heart or whether someone is a night owl or an early bird. The new study, led by researchers at Concordia University in Montreal, looked at the bigger picture.

“People should treat their sleep seriously,” said study co-author Valeria Kebets, manager of machine learning projects at Concordia’s Applied AI Institute. “It affects everything in their daily functioning.”