More than one out of three Americans are sleep-deprived, according to a new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC.
According to the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the study is the first of its kind to document “estimates of self-reported healthy sleep duration for all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
“As a nation, we are not getting enough sleep,” said Wayne Giles, director of the CDC’s Division of Population Health. “Lifestyle changes such as going to bed at the same time each night; rising at the same time each morning; and turning off or removing televisions, computers, mobile devices from the bedroom, can help people get the healthy sleep they need.”
According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society, adults between 18 and 60 should sleep at least seven hours per night.
Sleeping less than that could lead to several health risks, including “obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke and frequent mental distress.”
Sleep habits among Americans vary by geography, race, ethnicity, marital status and employment, the CDC found.
Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders had the lowest reported sleep duration, with just 54 percent reporting seven hours a night. Among non-Hispanic whites, 67 percent reported getting the recommended amount of sleep.
Hawaii had the fewest adults reporting healthy sleep, while 72 percent of South Dakotans reported getting enough sleep.
A person's employment status played a role in sleep duration, the CDC found, with 51- to 60 percent of those unable to work or unemployed respectively reporting getting enough sleep, compared to 65 percent for those with jobs.
Being married also helped, according to the CDC study, with 67 percent of respondents saying they got enough sleep, compared to 62 percent for those never married and 56 percent for those divorced, widowed or separated.
While many Americans could use more sleep, a 2009 study of global sleeping patterns, conducted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, found that only the French slept more than Americans. The country with the lowest amount of sleep time was South Korea.
