The way we sleep can reveal a great deal about our overall health. But while many of us focus on the hours of shut-eye we get, new research suggests we should pay more attention to the timing and consistency of our bedtime.

Researchers have now found that those with the poorest sleep rhythms may face a 2.8-times-higher risk of Parkinson's disease, and a 1.6-times-higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes , compared to those with consistent patterns of wakefulness and sleep.

The findings come from the sleep data of more than 88,000 people in the UK Biobank, and while the results can only reveal correlations, they could point future clinical research in new directions.

Altogether, scientists at Peking University and the Army Medical University in China considered the health effects

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