Large-scale wearable data reveal spatiotemporal organization of annual sleep patterns

Abstract

Sleep is fundamental to health, yet large-scale, objective data on how geography shapes sleep behavior remain scarce. We analyzed over 45 million nights of sensor data from 105,741 German adults wearing consumer-grade wearables across 2.7 years. Sleep timing displayed a continuous east-west gradient, with later onset, midsleep, and offset in western regions, consistent with solar progression. This effect was strongest on weekends and in rural areas, where midsleep was delayed by 2.2 minutes per degree longitude and sleep duration increased by 1.0 minute. A north-south gradient also emerged. Weekday midsleep advanced by 0.9 minutes per degree latitude, while weekend midsleep was delayed by 0.2 minutes, resulting in greater social jetlag in the north. Sleep duration declined toward higher latitudes across both day types. Seasonal analyses revealed consistent annual rhythms. Sleep duration increased by 24.7 minutes in winter relative to summer, and sleep offset closely followed sunrise. These patterns highlight the joint influence of solar and social time on sleep, with implications for regionally tailored public health strategies.