Nearly 23,000 Oura Wearers: Irregular Sleep Times Went With Worse Anxiety and Depression
In nearly 23,000 Oura Ring wearers, people whose bedtimes and wake times bounced around more reported worse anxiety, depression and loneliness. It’s a link, not proof that one causes the other.
Ever had a week where bedtime was 10 one night and 1 the next?
Monday you’re asleep early and proud of it. Thursday you’re scrolling at midnight, and by the weekend your alarm is just a suggestion. Most of us count hours of sleep. Hardly anyone counts how much our schedule jumps around.
What actually happened
A study in Scientific Reports, published Nov. 12 by researchers at UC San Francisco and UC San Diego, looked at sleep regularity, meaning how consistent your sleep and wake times are from one day to the next. It used data from 22,894 people in TemPredict, a study that recruited Oura Ring users and gave rings to some participants. They contributed an average of 154 days of sleep data each and answered regular mood surveys.
Each person got a Sleep Regularity Index score from 0 to 100, with higher meaning more consistent. People with few or no depression symptoms averaged 84, compared with 75 for people with severe symptoms. Anxiety and loneliness showed the same pattern. The first author, Severine Soltani, said a score of 84 means your schedule might shift about an hour from day to day, and a 75 is closer to an hour and a half.
Our read: your schedule might matter as much as your hours
This is our read. Sleep advice has mostly been about getting enough. This study adds to a growing pile of research, including a Fitbit study we covered, suggesting consistency deserves attention too. And it’s one of the few sleep metrics that doesn’t cost anything to work on.
Reality check
This is a correlation, not proof that an irregular schedule causes anxiety or depression. The researchers say it may run both ways, since feeling anxious or low can wreck your sleep too. Mood was self-reported, and the participants were mostly White, middle-aged Oura users from North America and Europe. Worth knowing: Oura helped fund the study, and two of the authors disclose paid consulting work for the company, one with a financial interest in it.
The close
You don’t have to fix every 1 a.m. night. But if your bedtime has been all over the place, it might be worth picking one and sticking with it.
Sources
- Soltani et al., “Associations between sleep regularity indexed from wearable device data and mental health symptoms in the TemPredict longitudinal cohort study,” Scientific Reports, Nov 12, 2026
- University of California, San Francisco via Medical Xpress, “Could an erratic sleep schedule be harming your mental health?,” Nov 12, 2026
Disclosure: WellWham has no affiliate links in this story.
Brand information: Scientific Reports
