Scientists Identify Five Types of Sleep Linked to Brain and Lifestyle Features

Researchers from Concordia University and McGill University have identified connections between various aspects of sleep and individual differences in health, cognition, and lifestyle through complex data analysis. The study, published on October 7 in PLOS Biology, describes five “sleep–biopsychosocial” profiles and their corresponding patterns of functional connectivity between brain regions.

Most sleep studies focus on a single parameter—such as sleep duration—and link it to one outcome, like mental health. In contrast, the authors used a multidimensional approach, analyzing data from 770 participants in the Human Connectome Project, each of whom had detailed sleep characteristics, brain imaging data, and biopsychosocial information.

The researchers identified five sleep–biopsychosocial profiles.

• The first profile is marked by poor sleep and associated with worse psychopathology indicators such as anxiety, depression, and stress.

• The second profile reflects “resilience” to sleep disturbance—individuals with this pattern may show signs of psychopathology but do not perceive their sleep as poor.

• The remaining three profiles are more specific; one, for example, is defined mainly by short sleep duration, which correlates with lower cognitive performance.

Each profile corresponds to a unique organization of brain networks. For instance, individuals in the first profile show high functional connectivity between subcortical regions and sensorimotor and attention networks during rest.

The authors emphasize that sleep is not a single characteristic but rather a set of interrelated yet partly independent parameters, each potentially linked in different ways to lifestyle, health, mental state, and cognition. This multidimensional approach provides a deeper understanding of individual differences and could support more personalized clinical strategies.