Overview
- An analysis from Flinders University of more than 70,000 people found sleep duration and quality more strongly predicted next-day physical activity than activity predicted that night’s sleep.
- Across roughly 28 million person-days of wearable and mattress-sensor data, fewer than 13% met both 7 to 9 hours of sleep and at least 8,000 steps, while nearly 17% slept under seven hours and walked under 5,000 steps.
- A separate OHSU study using CDC data from 3,143 U.S. counties (2019–2025) linked shorter average sleep to lower life expectancy, with an effect larger than diet or activity and trailing only smoking and severe obesity.
- Authors report that a solid night’s rest supports greater energy, motivation, and capacity for movement, suggesting sleep as a practical starting point for health gains.
- Both groups emphasize their findings are observational and affected by wearable measurement limits and sample bias, so the results do not establish causation.