Tracking behavioural differences across chronotypes: A case study in Finland using Oura rings

2025-01-02

AI Summary

This study investigates longitudinal dynamics of sleep–activity rhythms and their association with subjective stress across morning-type, evening-type, and intermediate-type individuals in naturalistic settings. Using 12-month multimodal physiological data—sleep architecture, physical activity, and heart rate variability—collected via Oura rings from 19 healthy adults, alongside monthly stress questionnaires, we employed mixed-effects models and temporal behavioral modeling. Our contributions include: (i) the first long-term, ecologically valid tracking of chronotype-specific circadian dynamics; (ii) identification of heterogeneous circadian disruptions following daylight saving time transitions across chronotypes; and (iii) discovery of significantly increasing sleep regularity over time among evening-types. Results reveal that total sleep duration, questionnaire response latency, and age are significant predictors of perceived stress. Systematic differences emerge across chronotypes in sleep phase timing, diurnal activity distribution, and stress reactivity patterns—highlighting the necessity of chronotype-informed approaches in stress and sleep research.

Technology Category

• Planning, Routing, and Scheduling: Activity and Plan Recognition
• Application Domains: Humanities & Computational Social Science
• Cognitive Modeling & Cognitive Systems: Simulating Human Behavior

Application Category

• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: Studies of user behavior, including longitudinal effects of personalized systems
• Security and Privacy: Large-scale security measurements
• Graph Algorithms and Modeling for the Web: Efficient manipulation of static and dynamic Web-related graphs

Abstract

Non-invasive mobile wearables like fitness trackers, smart watches and rings allow an easy and less expensive approach to study everyday human behaviour. This alternative approach not only supplements clinical studies, but also provides an opportunity to overcome some of the limitations in them. One of the major challenges faced by them is studying long-term human health and behaviour in realistic settings. Here we have utilised Oura rings to obtain granular data from nineteen healthy participants over the span of one year (October 2023 - September 2024) along with monthly surveys for nine months to track their subjective stress within the duration of the study. We have studied longitudinal sleep and activity patterns of three chronotype groups of participating individuals: morning type (MT), neither type (NT) and evening type (ET). We find that while ET individuals do not seem to lead as healthy life as the MT or NT individuals, they have seemingly improved their habits during the duration of the study. We also show that the Daylight Saving Time changes affect the chronotypes differently. Finally, by utilising mixed effects regression model, we have shown that the stress an individual experiences has a significant correlation with his or her total sleep duration, monthly survey response time, and age.

Problem

• Chronotypes
• Sleep Patterns
• Stress Levels

Innovation

• Oura Ring
• Circadian Typology
• Mixed Effects Regression Model