
Large-scale study of anonymized data from Fitbit users finds adults with obesity sleep less, with more variability Wearable devices give scientists a powerful new tool for sleep studies.
September 14, 2020
LA JOLLA, CA Obese adults sleep an average of 15 minutes less per night than those who are not obese, according to a new study of anonymized data from more than 100,000 Fitbit users conducted by scientists at the Scripps Research Translational Institute and UC San Diego.
The landmark sleep study adds to a growing base of scientific evidence on the relationship between sleep and obesity. And although the retrospective study could not establish causal connections, its results are consistent with other findings that suggest insufficient sleep and obesity make up a vicious cycle: inadequate sleep promotes obesity, while obesity tends to worsen sleep quality.
The scientists, whose findings appear September 14 in JAMA Internal Medicine, examined de-identified data from 120,522 Fitbit users, covering a median of 256 nights per user. They found that people with a body-mass index (BMI) of 30 or more the clinical definition of obesity slept 6.62 hours per night on average, about 15 minutes less than the average 6.87 hours per night for those with a BMI under 30.
The study also hints that consistent sleeping patterns might be as important as sleeping longer. The high-BMI Fitbit users tended to not only sleep less than the lower-BMI group, but also had slightly more night-to-night variation in their sleep.
We observed in this dataset that some people consistently got the same amount of sleep night-to-night while others had far more variable sleep, says study co-lead author Stuti Jaiswal, MD, PhD, assistant professor of molecular medicine at Scripps Research. This variability may be important for overall health.
Obesity is a modern epidemic implicated in a host of other diseases. More than 40 percent of adult Americans are now considered obese, compared with about 30 percent two decades ago and about 10 percent in 1960. The complex condition promotes type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, stroke and certain cancers, among other health conditions. Thus, preventing obesity could have tremendous public health benefits and getting people to sleep better is one potential strategy for doing that.
For the new study, sleep duration and variability were measured using de-identified data from Fitbit devices that track movement, heart rate and other health-related factors. Some of the devices also have a sleep-tracking function that uses movement and pulse data to derive estimates of the time spent in different sleep stages.
Fitbit devices and other wearable technologies have opened the door to large-scale scientific studies that were challenging or impossible using traditional clinical means.
We were able to analyze sleep patterns for individuals in their natural, everyday situations for almost two years per user, in some cases, says the study's co-lead author Giorgio Quer, PhD, senior staff scientist and director of artificial intelligence at Scripps Research Translational Institute. By contrast, sleep studies in a clinic have to be much shorter and don't represent the participant's everyday reality. Surveys of sleep habits also tend to be problematic, as they are subjective and thus, more prone to error.
For this study, the scientists collaborated with Robert Owens, MD, a sleep physician who was able to put the data in context of prior research.
The relationship between weight and sleep, particularly sleep variability, has been shown in small studies, says Owens, associate professor of medicine at UC San Diego School of Medicine. To be able to find the same signal on a much larger scale, in hundreds of thousands of people, using Fitbit devices, shows the potential for wearables and consumer devices to advance science and public health.
The scientists plan to do further health-related studies using wearable-device data.
Researchers from the Scripps Research Translational Institute have published two prior studies based on Fitbit data one examining resting heart rates, and another examining the potential of Fitbit data to provide early warnings of flu outbreaks. They are also currently conducting a clinical study, DETECT, that uses wearable health data to help track outbreaks of COVID-19 and other viral respiratory diseases.
Association of sleep duration and variability with body mass index: Sleep measurements in the US from a large population of wearable users was written by co-lead authors Stuti Jaiswal and Giorgio Quer, and by Michael Galarnyk, Steven Steinhubl, Eric Topol, all of the Scripps Research Translational Institute; and Robert Owens, of UC San Diego School of Medicine.
Funding was provided by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (UL1 TR002550). Fitbit did not have any role in study design, execution or funding.
Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolic Disorders Translational Institute Quer, Giorgio
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
02/05/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
28/04/2026
Triton Digital's Podcast Metrics Demos+ Data Integration Enables Comprehensi...
28/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
28/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
28/04/2026
TAG Video Systems, the leading IP-native Realtime Media Platform, today announced that Lens, its visual service health interface for broadcast operations, recei...
28/04/2026
Open AV-over-IP Standard Recognized in IT Networking/Infrastructure and Security Category
The Alliance for IP Media Solutions (AIMS) today announced that the ...
28/04/2026
VFX History: Slit Scan
Graham Quince April 28, 2026
0 Comments
How did 2001: A Space Odyssey, Star Wars, Doctor Who and Star Trek: The Next Generation...
28/04/2026
These DaVinci Resolve Effects Will Make You a More Creative Colorist
Kasia Jarco April 28, 2026
0 Comments
Creativity in color grading is not about ha...
28/04/2026
A Simple Introduction to Cavalry: Indexed Circle
Simon Ubsdell April 28, 2026
0 Comments
In this new introductory tutorial for Cavalry we're going...
28/04/2026
Rise, the award-winning advocacy group for gender diversity in the broadcast and media technology sector, is pleased to announce a new global training programme...
28/04/2026
Clear-Com has appointed Brian Grahn as Market Outreach Manager of the Americas and Ben Turnwell as Business Development Manager for EMEA live, expanding their ...
28/04/2026
LiveU is inviting MPTS visitors to step into the companys new Q Era on Stand D32, at The Grand Hall, Olympia, London (May 13-14). The company will showcase its ...
28/04/2026
IBC today announces the launch of the IBC2026 Innovation Awards, with nominations now open for projects, programmes and initiatives that exemplify breakthrough ...
28/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
28/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
28/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
28/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
28/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
28/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
28/04/2026
Introducing Nx 3-Strip v2 - A Physics-Based Technicolor Reconstruction for DaVin...
28/04/2026
LinkedIn Top Companies 2026: Where Career Growth Is Happening Now Published on Apr 28, 2026 Categories: Data and insights
LinkedIn Corporate Communication...
28/04/2026
Editor's note: This post is part of Into the Omniverse, a series focused on how developers, 3D practitioners, and enterprises can transform their workflows ...
28/04/2026
AI agent systems today juggle separate models for vision, speech and language - ...
28/04/2026
RT News is pleased to announce the appointment of Sean Whelan as its new London Correspondent.
Sean has held the role of Washington Correspondent for the last...
28/04/2026
Joseph O'Connor, Eileen Walsh, Louise Duffy, Mick Lynch, Gormfhlaith N Thuairisg and Dermot Bannon take a personal look at life 100yrs ago in new TV docume...
27/04/2026
CES Power, a provider of infrastructure for live events, has announced the acquisition of three Ireland-based businesses: GH Energy Rental Ltd, Event Power, and...
27/04/2026
FuboTV Inc. has announced it is developing its Multiview feature for the Fubo streaming service on select LG TVs, including 2024, 2025, and newer 4K and 8K mode...
27/04/2026
Shade, a file management platform for creative teams, has announced a $14 million funding round led by Khosla Ventures, Construct Capital, and Bling Capital, br...
27/04/2026
The Audio Engineering Society (AES) will present the Immersive Audio Academy 12th Edition - Immersive Audio in All Flavors - on April 30, 2026, at 12:00 p.m. ...
27/04/2026
DAZN has announced DAZN48, a creator program for the FIFA World Cup 2026 that will recruit 48 creators - one representing each of the 48 qualified nations - to ...
27/04/2026
FloSports has announced exclusive streaming rights to four CrossFit competitions: Legends Del Mar: CrossFit Semi-Finals, Magic City Games, NorCal Classic, and t...
27/04/2026
Telestream has announced that Pulse, its software-defined test and measurement p...
27/04/2026
Shade has announced it is a Cloud Computing and Storage winner in the 2026 NAB Show Product of the Year Awards. Winners were selected by a panel of industry exp...
27/04/2026
Leading the NBA's video-ads platform, this Penn State grad is at the forefro...
27/04/2026
DAZN has expanded its international broadcast rights for the T100 Triathlon World Tour to include Africa. All races from the T100 calendar will be available for...
27/04/2026
NAB Show has announced the recipients of its 2026 Project of the Year and Product of the Year Awards at a ceremony at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
Each wi...
27/04/2026
DIRECTV has launched on Meta Quest headsets, becoming the first MVPD to offer live TV through the platform. The timing coincides with the stretch run of the MLB...
27/04/2026
TBL Team Boxing League has announced a broadcast agreement with MSG Networks to air all remaining Season 4 fights live across MSG's television and digital p...
27/04/2026
IP integration, interoperability, growth of intercommunications were key concerns for vendors and visitors alike
Attendees at the recently concluded 2026 NAB S...
27/04/2026
Behind The Mic provides a roundup of recent news regarding on-air talent, includ...
27/04/2026
A pro-audio emphasis, spectrum changes, and on-field audio mark the new products and enhancements to existing offerings
Microphones remain the primary point of...
27/04/2026
The Sports Video Group team was all over the NAB Show floor out in Las Vegas las...
27/04/2026
N r Spotify grundades f r 20 r sedan dominerades musikmarknaden av illegal nedladdning. Sedan dess har streaming bidragit till att teruppr tta betalningsvilja...
27/04/2026
Time on Spotify should feel meaningful and intentional, not something that slips...
27/04/2026
New modular multi-effects plug-in revealed
The latest plug-in from Brainworx delivers a modular set of effects designed to offer a convenient alternative to...