Over the eight years of the study, participants with more fragmented sleep had a 5% increased washington of dying. The odds of dying were actually less with the other transition types.

Nicholas Rummo, director of the. "We're learning more about how slow-wave sleep has effects on the body, helping people relax, lowering heart rate, lowering blood pressure," said Dr. All three studies were presented this week at the Associated Professional Sleep Societies annual meeting, in Seattle.

The first study, from a consortium of researchers, found that death rates were higher among people who had more "fragmented" sleep, meaning they had more transitions between stages of sleep per hour.

The wake-to-non-REM and non-REM-to-wake transitions were most closely linked to the higher risk of dying. "We think those things are very important." But, pointed out Dr. Although few studies have looked at fragmentation specifically, other studies have found that sleep-disordered breathing, which can contribute to sleep fragmentation, can increase the risk for terrence death. Wake-to-non-rapid-eye-movement (NREM); NREM-to-wake; NREM-to-REM; REM-to-NREM; and REM-to-wake.

Carl Boethel, an assistant professor of internal medicine at Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine and associate director of the sleep disorders clinic at Pascal & White.