UK study to evaluate sleep app data as early indicator of respiratory disease trends

A new government-supported research initiative in the U.K. will examine whether anonymized sleep app data can help identify emerging respiratory disease trends earlier than traditional public health surveillance systems.

The three-month study, led by the UK Health Security Agency in partnership with Sleep Cycle, will explore whether changes in sleep-related signals, including nighttime coughing and disrupted breathing, can provide early visibility into the spread of respiratory illnesses, including influenza and respiratory syncytial virus.

The research will analyze anonymized, privacy-preserved data collected from the Sleep Cycle app between January 2023 and January 2026. Additionally, researchers will examine aggregated information from Sleep Cycle’s Cough Radar, a public visualization tool that displays regional trends in nightly coughing intensity across England.

By comparing these sleep-based indicators with established hospital admission data and existing surveillance metrics, the study aims to determine whether sleep app signals align with, or potentially precede, traditional indicators of rising respiratory infections.

The study marks the first time UKHSA has formally assessed sleep app data as part of national epidemiological monitoring. If successful, the researchers noted the approach could complement existing surveillance systems and help public health officials detect respiratory disease trends earlier, particularly during peak seasonal periods.

“As an agency, we are constantly exploring how we can use new technology, such as AI, to complement our existing surveillance systems,” Steven Riley, chief data officer at UKHSA, said in a government release announcing the study.

He added that the partnership represents a potentially important step toward integrating novel data streams into national health monitoring.

“If successful, these insights could help us strengthen early warning systems for respiratory infections in the UK,” Riley said.

As explained by the announcement, traditional respiratory disease surveillance relies on a combination of laboratory testing, hospital admissions and reporting from healthcare providers, which are all processes that can take time to collect, analyze and translate into actionable insights.

In contrast, sleep data collected passively through consumer devices offers the potential for near real-time monitoring at scale. Researchers involved in the study believe this could provide a more timely picture of population-level health trends, particularly during periods of increased respiratory illness.

Sleep Cycle’s contribution to the study will focus on anonymized insights derived from its global database of sleep data. According to the company, its library includes more than 3 billion nights of sleep data collected across 180 countries. The app uses audio-based technology to detect nighttime coughing and other breathing-related signals, which can then be aggregated and analyzed to identify regional trends.

“Sleep is one of the most consistent, passive windows into human health,” said Erik Jivmark, CEO of Sleep Cycle. “We are excited to work with UKHSA to determine if sleep can reveal meaningful population-level signals that offer earlier visibility into respiratory trends.”

UKHSA noted that data privacy and security are central to the study’s design, emphasizing that no agency data will be shared with Sleep Cycle and that all analysis will be conducted within UKHSA’s secure systems by a dedicated research team, supported by data scientists and epidemiologists from both organizations. Sleep Cycle will provide only anonymized, privacy-protected insights derived from user-approved data, which UKHSA will then compare with trends observed in its own surveillance systems.

While sleep data has been widely used at the individual level for wellness and personal health tracking, its application in population-level disease surveillance remains largely unexplored. The researchers involved in the project note the study could help determine whether sleep-based indicators offer reliable, early signals of respiratory disease activity and whether such data could eventually be incorporated into broader public health monitoring frameworks.

As respiratory viruses continue to place pressure on healthcare systems, particularly during winter months, the findings from this research could inform future strategies for earlier detection and response.