Using data from the Apple Heart and Movement Study, collected by Apple Watch, researchers say that most people aren’t getting nearly enough sleep every night. The research, published this month by the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, is based on sleep data collected from over 42,000 Apple Watch users.
Apple Watch sleep tracking study
As spotlighted by ABC News, the researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital analyzed over 2.9 million nights of sleep from Apple Watch users. They found that just 31% of those people are getting at least seven hours of sleep per night, which is the minimum recommended for healthy adults.
The American Heart Association recommends seven to nine hours of sleep per night. Not getting at least seven hours of sleep can put you at risk for “cardiovascular disease, cognitive decline and dementia, depression, obesity, and higher blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol levels.”
The researchers collected their data through the Apple Heart and Movement Study. This study was first announced by Apple back in 2019, and anyone can opt into it using the Apple Health app or the Apple Research app on their iPhone.
Top comment by David Call
Since getting the Apple Watch Ultra and having that kind of battery life, I do track my sleep with my Apple Watch. Even on the nights where I'm a little restless, I still get over 8 hours of sleep every night. It's the best. Usually tired by 8:30pm, and asleep by 10:30pm, back up just before 7am when our puppy wakes up the other two dogs and there's no chance we'll get more sleep. I'm almost 40 and I'm glad my kids aren't little anymore and my job is flexible enough that I don't have to center my life around it. I know not everyone has that luxury.
Using this data, the researchers were able to glean a number of interesting data points:
- On weekdays, people go to bed before 12 a.m. 66.4% of the time, but that number drops to 56.6% on weekends.
- Washington had the highest proportion of people getting 7+ hours of sleep with 38.3%. Hawaii ranked lowest with 24.2%.
- For participants who had shared at least 10 nights of sleep data (a total of 42,455 participants), the average amount of time asleep per individual was 6 hours and 27 minutes.
- Despite state-level differences, in all states fewer than 40% of residents met the AHA’s recommended sleep duration.
This is only part one of the study from Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Researchers say that part two of the “Life’s Essential 8 series” will be published soon.
In the meantime, let us know what you think of these results in the comments. Do you use your Apple Watch for sleep tracking? If so, what sort of results are you seeing?
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