[sigmoid10]

Research papers are written to be read by other researchers, not laypeople. If you have no scientific background and want to read up on a topic that you are not familiar with, you'll have to find other sources of information.

[el1s7]

Sure, by "other researchers" you mean other people who learned jargon terminology.

And why would someone need to have a scientific background to read about sleep regularity and how it affects mortality?

[sigmoid10]

Would you expect to be able to read a string theory research paper too just because the topic sounds interesting to you? And to be clear: You don't need a scientific background to read about sleep regularity and how it affects mortality. I'm sure there are more than enough popsci articles that will pick this up. You only need it if you want to understand the original research papers. Because unlike popular science magazines (which have journalists writing for laypeople), research papers are written by scientists for other scientists.