Atlanta – If you think you’re not getting enough sleep, you’re not alone.
More than one-third of American adults aren’t getting a healthy amount of sleep, according to a study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Researchers examined data of nearly 445,000 adults from every state and the District of Columbia from the 2014 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. For the study, a healthy amount of sleep was considered seven hours or more.
Other findings included:
- Participants who were unemployed or unable to work got less healthy sleep – 60 percent and 51 percent, respectively – than employed participants (65 percent).
- Participants with at least a college degree got the most healthy sleep (72 percent).
- Healthy sleep duration was higher among married participants (67 percent) than those who were never married (62 percent) or those who were divorced, widowed or separated (56 percent).
- Of the participants, 27.7 percent slept 8 hours, 29.5 percent reported 7 hours, 23 percent got 6 hours, and 11.8 percent slept 5 hours or less.
Adults 18 to 60 years old should sleep a minimum of seven hours per night, according to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society. Sleeping less than seven hours has been connected to a greater risk of developing chronic conditions such as obesity, diabetes and heart disease.
CDC offers guidance for healthy sleep, including:
- People should focus on getting adequate sleep and participate in “good sleep habits.”
- Employers can consider modifying schedules so employees get enough sleep.
- Employers can inform shift workers about getting better sleep.
“As a nation we are not getting enough sleep,” Dr. Wayne Giles, director of CDC’s Division of Population Health, said in a press release. “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, [and] mobile devices from the bedroom, can help people get the healthy sleep they need.”
The study was published in the Feb. 19 issue of CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
