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Translational Research

We aim to bridge the gap between research and real-world health impact by translating wearable-derived data on sleep, physical activity, and other health behaviours into actionable insights and evidence-informed interventions. This includes developing approaches that are scientifically robust, feasible, and meaningful to individuals and organisations, and evaluating how wearable technology can support sustainable behaviour change and improvements in health and wellbeing. Ultimately, we aim to move beyond measurement to facilitate the integration of evidence-based health strategies into everyday life, workplace practices, and broader health recommendations and policy.

Sleep, Well-Being, and Cognition in Medical Interns on a Float or Overnight Call Schedule

Sleep, Well-Being, and Cognition in Medical Interns on a Float or Overnight Call Schedule

This study was initiated as a collaboration between NUHS and the Sleep and Cognition Laboratory at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine to understand the impact of different shift schedules on sleep, health and well being.

Using 8-weeks of wearables/mobile tracking, we found that medical interns on night-float schedules show more regular and better-quality sleep, and less negative outcomes for mood, motivation and cognition than a 24h overnight-call schedule. On-shift napping benefitted cognition.

Nocturnal Blood Pressure Estimation from Sleep Plethysmography Using Machine Learning

Nocturnal Blood Pressure Estimation from Sleep Plethysmography Using Machine Learning

We demonstrated a method to obtain within 5mm/Hg MAE quality blood pressure measurements using a random forest ML algorithm trained on finger-tip photoplethysmography data. This work opens the door for seamless high frequency sampling of nocturnal blood pressure using wearable sensing that is comfortable.

Note that current implementations like those used by Samsung using oscillometry require user action to obtain a reading.

Effects of night-to-night variations in sleep on blood glucose in university students

Effects of night-to-night variations in sleep on blood glucose in university students

There is much evidence that poor sleep increases the risk of diabetes mellitus. Part of the difficulty persuading young people to sleep better is their subjective sense of invulnerability to unhealthy sleep. This feeling is not totally unfounded as we found that university undergraduates to have normal nocturnal and daytime glucose profiles as well as normal insulin responses to glucose challenge despite sleeping an average of ~6hrs a night i.e. below what is recommended.

Assessing ‘readiness’ by tracking fluctuations in daily sleep and their effects on mood, motivation

Assessing ‘readiness’ by tracking fluctuations in daily sleep and their effects on mood, motivation

Night by night variability in sleep duration has a significant effect on next day (but not next, next day) mood, motivation and sleepiness. This lends credence to the issuance of ‘readiness’ scores by consumer wearables.

The work also supports the value of sleep regularity in giving better scores on these three markers of wellbeing.

Working-from-home persistently influences sleep and physical activity 2 years after Covid-19

Working-from-home persistently influences sleep and physical activity 2 years after Covid-19

Alongside post COVID-19 re-opening, we found a restitution of physical activity in young adults and a return to earlier sleep, but also earlier wake times and a shortening of sleep duration in workers who return to office compared to those who continue to work from home.

These findings have relevance to planners seeking to evaluate the merits and demerits of working from home.

A longitudinal analysis of COVID-19 lockdown stringency on sleep and resting heart rate measures

A longitudinal analysis of COVID-19 lockdown stringency on sleep and resting heart rate measures

We showed how midsleep timing during the COVID-19 pandemic became later globally reflecting later bedtimes and waketimes (through a collaboration with Oura Health OY).

This reflects a global preference for later bedtimes than what is historically regarded as normative, likely reflecting the influence of ready means of communicating with and being engaged by large scale electronically enabled social networks.

COVID-19-related mobility reduction: heterogenous effects on sleep and physical activity rhythms

COVID-19-related mobility reduction: heterogenous effects on sleep and physical activity rhythms

Singapore was one of the few countries where a large group of adults had objectively tracked sleep habits before, during and after COVID-19.

In this study, working adults kept their pre-COVID-19 sleep routines even after the announcement of the global pandemic. These routines were demonstrably altered by New Year and Lunar New Year celebrations / festivities but what was to be the most severe pandemic the world has encountered did not shift routines until citizens underwent movement restrictions.

This illustrates how difficult it can be to shift sleep habits without structural measures.

Country differences in nocturnal sleep variability: Observations from a large-scale, long-term sleep

Country differences in nocturnal sleep variability: Observations from a large-scale, long-term sleep

Valuable longitudinal cross-cultural information about sleep patterns can be derived from harnessing these devices at scale.

Sleep in East Asians, beyond being merely shorter in duration, is less efficient and more variable, particularly on weekdays. Asians have less sleep extension over weekends. Significant differences in work culture may be driving these differences rather than biology or latitude differences.

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