Scripps Research study links sleep variability with sleep apnea and hypertension How consumers' digital activity trackers could enable personalized health screening and early intervention for cardiovascular health and beyond.
December 23, 2025
LA JOLLA, CA Over 70 million Americans wear digital activity trackers (DATs) to record their sleep, steps and heart rate. A new study from Scripps Research found that these devices could also provide insight into even more, including individual health risks like obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and high blood pressure.
The findings, published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research on December 3, 2025, used DATs to identify an association between sleep variability the night-to-night fluctuation of when an individual falls asleep and wakes and their risk of developing sleep apnea and hypertension. This research joins a growing body of evidence that DATs could become more useful clinical tools to assess health risks in the near future.
Data from digital activity trackers provides a unique way to detect meaningful health patterns from the devices that people already own, says Stuti Jaiswal, senior author and assistant professor at Scripps Research, who is also a faculty hospitalist at Scripps Clinic. Digital health studies have been gaining acceptance over the past decade, and we're now demonstrating what these technologies can reveal about how sleep influences cardiovascular health.
The implications of these findings are far reaching. Sleep apnea a disorder in which the airway muscles relax and collapse during sleep, causing repeated pauses in breathing impacts an estimated 50 million Americans and puts them at risk for hypertension, atrial fibrillation, heart disease and stroke. Similarly, high blood pressure (also known as hypertension) affects nearly half of Americans over 18 and elevates their risk for heart attack or heart failure. Using DATs to detect the risk of developing these conditions could allow individuals to seek treatment sooner and potentially prevent severe cardiovascular diseases.
Jaiswal and her team recruited over 1,000 adults from across the U.S. to join a sleep-focused, smartphone-based study called the Research Framework for Exploring Sleep Health (REFRESH). REFRESH was developed by sleep medicine researchers and clinicians at Scripps Research Digital Trials Center to establish how longitudinal sleep impacts different aspects of physical and mental health. For this study, nearly 400 individuals submitted an average of two years' worth of sleep data collected by their DAT and completed health-related surveys that assessed the risk of sleep apnea and identified their proclivity to being an early riser or night owl. Surprisingly, about 40 percent of individuals identified as night owls. Participants were selected for analysis based on the amount of data available on their DAT and the type of DAT they used. Though the REFRESH platform was compatible with Fitbit, Apple Watch, Garmin, and Oura devices, the study focused on Fitbit data because most participants used this device and it's the most studied wearable in sleep research.
Jaiswal and her team found that people whose sleep varied by just one hour from night to night going to bed at 11 p.m. instead of a routine bedtime of 10 p.m., for example had more than twice the risk of sleep apnea and were 71 percent more likely to have high blood pressure. This robust association suggests that digital studies have the potential to uncover distinct and clinically meaningful patterns when used over significant periods of time. It's worth noting, however, that this compelling association between sleep variability and increased risk of sleep apnea or hypertension requires further investigation into the specific cause of the association.
A significant strength of DATs is the ability to capture large amounts of data across time, describes Natalia Orendain, first author and professional scientific collaborator at Scripps Research. Our study continues momentum toward a future of potentially using consumer wearables for early disease detection and prevention.
Most people focus on sleep duration, such as getting seven to nine hours nightly. However, studies like Jaiswal's are part of the mounting evidence that irregular sleep patterns may contribute to drivers of cardiovascular disease such as inflammation, disrupted cortisol rhythms and metabolic dysfunction.
Right now, we're in the pattern-recognition phase, says Jaiswal. We're confirming these associations exist and understanding mechanisms. The next phase is figuring out how we can actually help people improve their health.
Individual biometrics identified by DATs could eventually play a role in clinical care to not only augment a personalized approach to sleep health, but to address modifiable health factors in general. Future research plans include using sleep data to study the relationship between sleep and mental health in diagnoses like depression and anxiety. Jaiswal hopes this research could help bring to light health risks that individuals aren't aware of leading to earlier intervention and ideally improving health outcomes.
In addition to Jaiswal and Orendain, authors of the study Digital biometrics in predicting risk for obstructive sleep apnea and hypertension: A decentralized, prospective cohort study, include Samantha Spierling Bagsic of Scripps Health and Scripps Research; Edward Ramos and Jay Pandit of Scripps Research; and Robert L. Owens of the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine.
This research was funded in part by a NIH/NCATS flagship Clinical and Translational Science Award Grant (CTSA UM1TR004407) and the Kruger-Wyeth settlement funds.
Translational Medicine Jaiswal, Stuti
Most recent headlines
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Scripps Research study links sleep variability with sleep apnea and hypertension How consumers' digital activity trackers could enable personalized health s...
23/12/2025
How guilas Cibae as Dominican Winter League Games Are Locally Produced for Glob...
23/12/2025
BitFire's Jim Akimchuk on Supplying Scalability and Customization in the Clo...
23/12/2025
CAMB.AI Enables European Athletics to Offer Multi-Language SupportPlan is to eventually offer translation into all languages spoken in EuropeBy Ken Kerschbaumer...
23/12/2025
Analysis: As sports media values trend negative, scarcity and quality are king By Callum McCarthy, Editor-at-Large
Monday, December 22, 2025 - 14:08
Print ...
23/12/2025
ESPN, Disney, and NBA Return to the Animated Altcast Fray With Second Edition of...
23/12/2025
End the Year on a High Note and Donate to the Sports Broadcasting Fund Today! By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director
Tuesday, December 23, 2025 - 12:25 pm
...
23/12/2025
The year is winding down, the weather outside is frightful, and it's the perfect time to escape into a story that warms the heart. For listeners looking for...
23/12/2025
A Zeus motor is hot fire tested at L3Harris' Camden, Arkansas, solid rocket ...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Lightware will exhibit several major product innovations at ISE 2026, including the new USB-C BOOSTER-V1, Google Meet. integration for various Taurus UCX models...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Taking the Stage at Carnegie Hall-On a Global Scale Boston Conservatory Orchestra students reflect on their epic concert marking the 80th session of the UN Gene...
23/12/2025
Experience the power of WO Automation for Radio's newest service, the System Effectiveness Review. Designed to help you achieve more, a System Effectiveness...
23/12/2025
23 Dec 2025
VEON's Beeline Kazakhstan and Rakuten Symphony Collaborate to A...
23/12/2025
Back to All News
How Steamy Can It Get? Single's Inferno' Season 5 Pre...
23/12/2025
Back to All News
33 Million Global Viewers on Netflix Watched Jake Paul vs. Ant...
23/12/2025
New technique lights up where drugs go in the body, cell by cell Scripps Research scientists developed a technique that maps drug binding in individual cells th...
22/12/2025
SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Presidio's Neerav Shah on the Role of Its Captiva...
22/12/2025
Hitting the bullseye: Sky Sports readies itself for the biggest PDC World Darts ...
22/12/2025
Unique skillset: Bringing new directors to the world of darts at The Worlds with...
22/12/2025
Gravity Media prepares for a flight of fancy with the PDC World Darts Championsh...
22/12/2025
One hundred and eighty: Gravity Media on hitting the production bullseye at the ...
22/12/2025
The Famous Group's Jon Slusser on Fascinating Fans Through Immersive Content...
22/12/2025
ESPN's Meg Aronowitz on Continuing High-Quality Broadcasts of Collegiate Spo...
22/12/2025
ESPN Takes Data-Driven Storytelling to New Heights with MNF Playbook with Next ...
22/12/2025
For a decade, popular German podcast Fest & Flauschig has hosted an annual Chris...
22/12/2025
Paramount Scores Largest Share Increase Among Distributors as Paramount and CBS...
22/12/2025
New multi-year deal integrates Roku's data to fuel Nielsen's measurement suite
Roku gains access to Nielsen's streaming ratings, showing The Roku C...
22/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
22/12/2025
Berklee Wrapped 2025: Our Top News and Stories A look back at a year highlighted by faculty milestones, major film and television projects, Bob Dylan's ho...
22/12/2025
The works of Plato state that when humans have an experience, some level of change occurs in their brain, which is powered by memory - specifically long-term me...
22/12/2025
Partnership integrates complementary satellite data and AI analytics to enhance security, infrastructure, and environmental monitoring solutions for global cust...
22/12/2025
Workflows allow you to create a sequence of planned events which may be added to your template(s) or inserted directly into your sequential or background playli...
22/12/2025
Monday 22 December 2025
Sky extends PGA TOUR partnership until 2029, as Sky Spo...
22/12/2025
Back to All News
Global Anime Hits and New Releases Take Center Stage at Jump Festa 2026
Entertainment
22 December 2025
GlobalJapan
Link copied to clipboar...
22/12/2025
Siobh n McSweeney, Rory McIlroy, Elon Musk, Catherine Connolly, Jim Gavin, Ivan Yates and Traitor Paudie Moloney lead new characters for Callan Kicks the Year 2...
22/12/2025
Winner announced in the picturesque surroundings of Wicklow's Avondale Tower and Treetop Walk
Andrew Trimble wins the show in his first series as coach
Th...
22/12/2025
The 2025 winners have been announced today, Sunday 21 December, for Ireland's largest choral competition Choirs for Christmas hosted by RT lyric fm.
Ove...
21/12/2025
Back to All News
Legoshi and Haru's Story Reaches Its Finale: BEASTARS Fin...
Scripps Research study links sleep variability with sleep apnea and hypertension How consumers' digital activity trackers could enable personalized health screening and early intervention for cardiovascular health and beyond.
