Research Highlights:
Embargoed until 4 a.m. CT/5 a.m. ET, Monday, Nov. 2, 2026
DALLAS, Nov. 2, 2026 — Maintaining a consistent sleep schedule may be an important factor to consider for protecting the heart, according to new, independent, preliminary research to be presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2026. The meeting, Nov. 6–9, in Chicago, is a premier global exchange of the latest scientific advancements, research and evidence-based clinical practice updates in heart and stroke science.
“While we often focus on getting a full eight hours of sleep every night, having a regular sleep schedule — consistent bedtimes, wake times, and sleep duration from night to night is a practical, actionable step anyone can take that may help protect their heart and blood vessels,” said lead researcher Nguyen Minh Tuan Viet, M.D., Ph.D., a neuroscientist and postdoctoral research fellow at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School.
Researchers analyzed sleep data from more than 10,000 adults who wore an activity tracking device as part of the National Institutes of Health’s “ All of Us” Research Program.
What did the analysis track?
What were the main findings?
Irregular sleep was linked to a much wider range of heart conditions than expected, Viet noted.
“Sleep irregularity is often due to weekends – we get to sleep a little bit later on a Friday night; or people have shift work. This may not be good for your heart health,” Viet said. “Sometimes the quality of sleep is something we cannot control. But the regularity, consistent bedtimes throughout the week and waking up at the same time every morning, is something some people can control.”
The study findings should be interpreted cautiously, said American Heart Association volunteer expert Marie-Pierre St-Onge, Ph.D., C.C.S.H., FAHA, who chaired the Association’s 2025 scientific statement: Multidimensional Sleep Health: Definitions and Implications for Cardiometabolic Health and was not involved in this study.
”This study highlights another potential important sleep characteristic to consider for heart health, which adds to the body of research we currently have on sleep duration,” said St-Onge, a professor of nutritional medicine and director of the Center of Excellence for Sleep & Circadian Research at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York City. “However, contrary to the years of research showing how insufficient sleep affects cardiovascular risk factors, we are still lacking the data to support a causal, independent impact of sleep regularity on cardiovascular disease risk. This study should prompt scientists to further evaluate links between sleep regularity and cardiovascular disease, so that we can make the same recommendations for regularity that we can for duration.
“Sleep duration and regularity often interact in their relation to heart disease risk. This abstract notes an additional tool to consider when working on improving sleep. Adopting stable sleep schedules can be helpful to achieve better sleep duration as well.”
Study details, background, design and limitations:
Co-authors, disclosures and funding sources are listed in the abstract.
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