Habitual sleep duration is associated with the cortical organisation of brain network controllability

Sleep is fundamental to adaptive brain function, yet how habitual sleep relates to the structural network properties that support flexible transitions between brain states remains poorly understood.

By Liu, Lu, Wang +5Oct 27, 2026

Score████░░░░░░4.4

Key numbers

15,799 UK Biobank adults

Caveats

Preprint; not yet peer reviewed.

VerdictWorth a reader's time today.

Read the original PDF

Abstract

Sleep is fundamental to adaptive brain function, yet how habitual sleep relates to the structural network properties that support flexible transitions between brain states remains poorly understood. Combining wrist-accelerometer sleep measures with diffusion MRI connectomes from 15,799 UK Biobank adults, we show that longer workday sleep is associated with higher modal controllability of somatomotor systems and lower controllability of visual cortex. This system-specific signature reproduced in a locked test set (n = 4,740) and was robust across extensive sensitivity analyses. Decomposition showed that it reflects a redistribution of structural connection weight, with greater absolute visual connectivity and a smaller somatomotor share of the whole-brain total. Weekend catch-up sleep showed no comparable association. The signature was distinct from brain-ageing patterns and, across 1,226 phenotypes, related mainly to physical activity and body composition rather than cognition. These findings link everyday sleep habits to the system-specific organisation of brain network controllability.

X. Liu, R. Lu, S. Wang, Q. Yu, M. Zhang, R. Cui, J. Xiao, T. Fan

The editor's rubric

Heuristic review

Leverage3 / 5: A method or resource many groups across the field will adopt within a year.; 24% of this desk’s rubric
Magnitude2 / 5: Solid incremental gain on a meaningful problem.; 16% of this desk’s rubric
Evidence4 / 5: Strong: large scale, preregistered, independently replicated, or a well-powered randomized trial.; 20% of this desk’s rubric
Novelty3 / 5: A genuinely new approach to an open problem.; 20% of this desk’s rubric
Trajectory2 / 5: Some room to improve with obvious engineering.; 10% of this desk’s rubric
Stakes2 / 5: Benefits a professional community (practitioners, clinicians, engineers).; 10% of this desk’s rubric

Dimension	Level	Weight	What that level means
Leverage	███░░3/5	24%	A method or resource many groups across the field will adopt within a year.
Magnitude	██░░░2/5	16%	Solid incremental gain on a meaningful problem.
Evidence	████░4/5	20%	Strong: large scale, preregistered, independently replicated, or a well-powered randomized trial.
Novelty	███░░3/5	20%	A genuinely new approach to an open problem.
Trajectory	██░░░2/5	10%	Some room to improve with obvious engineering.
Stakes	██░░░2/5	10%	Benefits a professional community (practitioners, clinicians, engineers).

Editor’s rationale

Heuristic triage from title and abstract text only, not a reading of the paper. Cues found: method (we report); novelty (alternative to status quo); verification (held-out test, independent replication).

How the score was computed

rank-2026-10-18

Score████░░░░░░4.4

Score = 10 × (75% × adjusted merit / 10 + 15% × attention + 10% × freshness)

Desks place stronger verdicts first, then use this score to order work within the same verdict.

Merit: 5.7 / 10; Weighted rubric, evidence-gated.
Adjusted merit: 4.6 / 10; Shrunk toward the desk prior by editor confidence (38%).
Attention: 0%; Citations, upvotes, points, mentions.
Freshness: 88%; Half-life decay since publication.

No attention signals recorded yet.

The record

Reviewed by heuristic-v10 on Oct 28, 2026, 05:48 UTC. Paper type: method.
Categories: neuroscience
BRIEF, No.5 in the Biology edition of October 28, 2026.