Abstract
Humans need about seven to nine hours of sleep per night. Sleep habits are heritable, associated with brain function and structure, and intrinsically related to well-being, mental, and physical health. However, the biological basis of the interplay of sleep and health is incompletely understood. Here we show, by combining neuroimaging and behavioral genetic approaches in two independent large-scale datasets (HCP (n = 1106), age range: 22–37, eNKI (n = 783), age range: 12–85), that sleep, mental, and physical health have a shared neurobiological basis in grey matter anatomy; and that these relationships are driven by shared genetic factors. Though local associations between sleep and cortical thickness were inconsistent across samples, we identified two robust latent components, highlighting the multivariate interdigitation of sleep, intelligence, BMI, depression, and macroscale cortical structure. Our observations provide a system-level perspective on the interrelation of sleep, mental, and physical conditions, anchored in grey-matter neuroanatomy.
Highlights
Humans need about seven to nine hours of sleep per night
Our analyses revealed a phenotypic relationship between sleep and depression, Body Mass Index (BMI), and intelligence in both the Human Connectome Project dataset (HCP) and the enhanced Nathan Kline InstituteRockland Sample (NKI) Rockland sample (eNKI) sample
We studied two independent samples from openly-shared neuroimaging repositories: HCP and eNKI
Summary
Sleep habits are heritable, associated with brain function and structure, and intrinsically related to well-being, mental, and physical health. Individual differences in sleep behaviors are heritable[17,18,19]; and various genetic, metabolic, behavioral, and psychological risk factors have been suggested for the development and maintenance of poor sleep quality and sleep disorders[20,21,22]. Is sleep disturbance linked with hypertension, diabetes, and obesity[25,26], and depressive symptoms, physical illness, and fatigue were reported as associated factors for both poor sleep quality and short sleep duration[27,28]. A meta-analysis reported that insomnia disorder is associated with alterations in widespread brain structure and function[29]. Lower prefrontal gray matter volume has been associated with greater sleep fragmentation in older individuals[35]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
