Sleep Statistics: What You Should Know Right Now

We’re all looking forward to a restful night’s sleep. Isn’t it possible that not all sleep is equal? Sleep is crucial to good health. There’s no better way to recharge and get ready for the day than getting some shut-eye.

Due to some sleep issues, a large percentage of the population is deprived of sufficient sleep.

Sleep disorders, medical conditions, and mental health issues all may play a role in the lack of or poor quality of sleep. People of all ages struggle with sleep problems, which can have far-reaching consequences.

One-third of our lives are spent sleeping, believe it or not. Even though it seems like a lot of time in bed, sleep deprivation is a major problem in the United States.

Every week, as many as 164 million Americans find it difficult to get a good night’s sleep and it has been labeled as a “public health problem” by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

As difficult as it may seem at first, reviewing some basic facts and figures about sleep can give you a better idea of how sleep works, why it’s so important, and the extent to which Americans are suffering from sleep deprivation.

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Sleep Statistics

Everyone knows that getting enough sleep is important for both our physical and mental health, but few people know how important it is to get enough. The truth is that we don’t think about how important sleep is.

You should all take your sleep more seriously. If you or someone else knew all this, they might live. Below are the must-read sleep statistics giving you better insight that sleep disorders and sleep deprivation are not a joke.

General Sleep Data and Statistics

A lack of sleep can have negative effects on your physical and mental well-being, as well as a host of unpleasant symptoms.

When you don’t get enough sleep, it can lead to a variety of symptoms, including fatigue, mood swings, forgetfulness, irritability, daytime sleepiness, and other negative emotions.

A person’s specific needs for sleep will vary according to their age, but children generally require more sleep than adults to maintain healthy development. Below are the required sleep according to age:

Adult: 7 – 9 hours
Teenager: 8 – 10 hours
6 – 12 years: 9- 12 hours
3 – 5 years: 10 – 13 hours (including naps)
1 – 2 years: 11 – 14 hours (including naps)
I 4 -12 months: 12 – 16 hours (including naps)

According to the American Psychological Association, getting an additional 60 to 90 minutes of sleep each night can improve your mood and physical health.

Dreaming occurs four to six times a night, but most of us forget 95 to 99 percent of our dreams the next day. We dream for an average of two hours each night.

Only 20% of our total sleep time is spent in REM sleep (Rapid Eye Movement: is the lightest stage of sleep, during which a person may wake easily) while the rest is spent in non-REM sleep stages. The amount of REM sleep in healthy adults ranges from 20% to 25% of total sleep. NREM (Non-REM) sleep reduces metabolism by about 15%.

According to Nature and Science of Sleep, 54.1 percent of adults prefer to sleep in the fetal position, while 37.5% prefer to sleep on their back, even though it is the healthiest position.

According to MDPI – Journal of Clinical Medicine, 6 to 8 percent of the participants in one study reported a condition called “sexsomnia,” which means waking up at night to have sex with your partner.

Sleep Deprivation Statistics

On average, it takes about 10-15 minutes to fall asleep. You may be sleep-deprived if you fall asleep within a few minutes of getting up. Also, study shows that sleep deprivation has been linked to more than 100,000 deaths.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 35 percent of adults do not get enough sleep (7 hours per day). For a year, a lack of sleep costs the United States $411 billion.

A 13% drop in the amount of time spent sleeping in the United States has occurred since 1942 when the average American slept 7.9 hours per night. In contrast, the average amount of sleep for a teenager is 6.5 hours. Also, 40% of people between the ages of 40 and 59 say they sleep less than the recommended amount.

Only 72% of the unemployed or unable-to-work population sleeps as much as those with a college degree or higher (at 51% and 60% respectively).

Short sleep duration was reported by 37%of people between the ages of 20 and 39. According to Harvard, 3 to 5 percent of obesity in adults could be caused by a lack of sleep. 35.2 percent of all adults in the United States also say they sleep less than seven hours a night on an average basis.

Between three and seven days per week, nearly half of all Americans report feeling sleepy during the day. However, Hawaii’s residents (54%) sleep the fewest hours per night, while residents of South Dakota get the most by 72 percent.

Only 24.2 percent of adults in Boulder, Colorado, fall asleep for less than seven hours a night, making it the most sleep-deprived city in the United States. At 49.8%, the adult population in both Camden, NJ, and Detroit, MI, both report having trouble sleeping.

More than twice as many black adults describe sleeping too little, and six times as many describe sleeping too much, than white adults. Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders, black people, American Indians/Alaska Natives, Asians, Hispanics, and whites all reported getting less than seven hours of sleep after adjusting for age, while whites reported getting less than three-quarters of an hour.

Only 32.7% of adults in two-parent households and 31% of those without children get more than seven hours of sleep per night.

Compared to 2008-2009, when 28.4 percent of working adults reported sleeping six hours or less per night, 32.6 percent reported the same in 2017-2018.

Factory workers and plant operators, for example, make up 44% of those who say they sleep less than seven hours a night. Active duty service members are 34% more likely than the general population to report insufficient sleep.

Sleep Disruptions Statistics

Adults over the age of 40 (69% for men and 76% for women) get up an average of at least once a night to use the bathroom.

In both 2017 and 2018, approximately 16% of full-time workers in the United States worked evening or overnight shifts.

Approximately 57% of men and 40% of women in the United States snore.

In the last month, 41% of patients in primary care say they had night sweats.

More than two-thirds of those who suffer from frequent heartburn report that it interferes with their ability to get a good night’s rest.
Before and during their period, premenstrual syndrome (PMS) increases the likelihood of women reporting insomnia-like symptoms.

Pregnancy insomnia affects about half of all expectant mothers. At least two times as many women report experiencing insomnia-like symptoms before and during their period when they have premenstrual syndrome (PMS).

Sleep Disorders Statistics

You may have a sleep disorder if you don’t get enough sleep regularly. Chronic sleep deprivation harms a person’s quality of life, and this is the hallmark of a sleep disorder.

There are several conditions characterized by an inability to sleep well, either in terms of quality or quantity.

In some cases, this can include a lack of quality sleep that interferes with daytime productivity.

A sleep disorder can be diagnosed by a medical professional if a patient exhibits certain symptoms, such as sleepiness during the day and difficulty sleeping at night.

In most cases, the diagnosis can be made after a thorough clinical evaluation by your physician, which typically includes a detailed history of the presenting complaints, sleep logs, and possibly sleep studies.

The following are the seven types of sleep disorders:

Chronic insomnia is the most common cause of insomnia.
Obstructive sleep apnea and snoring are two common sleep breathing disorders.
Narcolepsy and idiopathic hypersomnia are examples of central hypersomnolence disorders.
Jet lag and delayed sleep-wake phase disorder are examples of circadian rhythm sleep-wake disorders.
Sleepwalking, rapid eye movement (REM) behavior disorder, and sleep paralysis are all examples of parasomnia.
Repetitive movement disorders, such as restless leg syndrome, affect sleep.

How common is a sleeping disorder?

In the United States, an estimated 50 to 70 million people have one or more sleep disorders and 48% of people reported having snoring issues.

4.7% of drivers said they had fallen asleep or nodded off in the previous month.

Insomnia is the most common sleep disorder, affecting 30% of adults in the United States and 10% of those with chronic cases. Approximately 40% of insomnia patients have a coexisting psychiatric disorder.

Obstructive sleep apnea affects an estimated 25 million adults in the United States.

Sleep apnea affects 4% to 9% of middle-aged men and 2% to 4% of women. Also, as many as 24% to 31% of men and 9% to 21% of women suffer from obstructive sleep apnea. People over the age of 40 accounts for more than half of all diagnosed cases of sleep apnea.

Narcolepsy

Narcolepsy affects one in every 2,000 people in the United States and more than three million people worldwide. One in 500 people who carry a gene that causes narcolepsy will suffer from the condition. All four narcolepsy symptoms will be present in only 20% to 25% of people (daytime sleepiness, sudden loss of muscle function, sleep paralysis, and hallucinations)

Also, in some studies, it was found that obstructive sleep apnea or depression was mistakenly diagnosed in over 60% of narcolepsy patients.

Narcolepsy affects both men and women equally, with an estimated 135,000 to 200,000 people in the United States suffering from it.

Sleep in Children and Teens Statistics

Babies and toddlers require a total of 12-17 hours of sleep per day, depending on their age. Premature babies may sleep for as much as 90% of the day. Preschool children should get between 10-13 hours of sleep per day, while school-age children should get between 9-11 hours.

Sleep disorders and excessive daytime sleepiness affect about a quarter of young children. Average total sleep per night decreases by 40 to 50 minutes between the ages of 13 and 19.
57.8% of 8th graders and 72.7% of 12th graders sleep less than the amount of time recommended for their age. 83% of middle and 93% of high schools in the United States begin at or before 8:15 a.m., respectively

The snoring of up to 27% of children is mild and infrequent. In one study, about one-half of all children between the ages of three and six have had a bad dream. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) affects as many as 70 percent of children.

Sleep Aids and Technology Statistics

More than 4% of U.S. adults (aged 20 and over) reported taking some kind of medication or sleep aid. Also, an estimated 9 million people in the United States rely on prescription sleeping pills to get some shuteye.

The greater the number of times a person takes a sleep aid, the greater the risk of death. Women (5%) were more likely than men to take a sleeping pill (3.1 percent). According to the British Medical Journal, people who take sleeping pills have a 35% increased risk of developing cancer.

Natural sleep aids were tried by 20% of American adults in the past year. If you’re taking a sleep aid, you’re 5 times more likely to be diagnosed with an issue with your slumber than if you’re not taking one.

In 2017, the smart mattress market had a revenue of $92 million and was expected to grow at an annual rate of 8.51 percent. At just 2 percent, latex beds are the least popular type of mattress, followed by memory foam at 32 percent.

More than a fifth of regular sleep app users are under the age of 30 and less than a fifth are over the age of 45. More than half of the $1,121.5 million Sleep Tracking device market is concentrated in North America. 8 percent of US adults use mobile sleep tracking apps regularly, 9 percent use them occasionally, and 31 percent say they won’t use them at all, according to a new study.

8.2% of adults say they’ve taken sleeping pills at least four times in the last week, according to the CDC. Oversleeping, grogginess, and difficulty concentrating are common side effects of prescription sleep medications for about 80% of those who take them.

Studying melatonin supplements sold in stores, researchers found that 71 percent were not within 10% of their stated dosage. Supplemental melatonin sales in the United States increased by 500% from $62 million in 2003 to $378 million in 2014.

Among adults in the United States, 28.2 percent reported using a smartphone app to keep track of their sleep.

Sleep Hygiene Statistics

Both the bedroom environment and sleep-related habits are considered part of “sleep hygiene.” In the fight against sleep deprivation, good sleep hygiene can make a big difference. More than three-quarters of people say they are more eager to get into bed if their sheets smell new.

Most people sleep on their side 54.1% of the time, 37.5% on their back, and 7.3% on their stomach, according to a new study. Also, an overwhelming 93% of people believe that restful sleep is impossible without a good mattress.

A cup of coffee has a half-life of five hours in healthy adults, which means that half of the caffeine you consume will be gone from your system in that time. Men and women who consume more than two drinks a day, respectively, are found to have 39.2 percent lower sleep quality.

Reducing daytime sleepiness and improving concentration, even when tired, have been linked to 75 minutes of high-intensity exercise or 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per week.

Approximately 40% of insomniacs are thought to have a mental health disorder. Insomnia affects 75% of adults with depression. Insomnia affects more than 90% of veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Conclusion

The quality of your sleep and overall well-being can also be improved by making a few simple lifestyle changes.

Reducing stress, abstaining from alcohol and caffeine, developing good sleep habits, and using a sleep machine are all ways to alleviate your insomnia at home.

Make an appointment with your healthcare provider if you’re having trouble sleeping and don’t know what to do about it.

They will be able to determine whether or not you have a sleep disorder and devise a treatment plan that works with your schedule and your needs.