Sleep statistics 2026.

More than 1 in 3 US adults (about 35%) report sleeping less than 7 hours per night.

Source: CDC, Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System

Adults aged 18+ are recommended at least 7 hours of sleep per 24-hour period for optimal health.

Source: AASM / CDC consensus statement

Short sleep prevalence (<7 hours) is highest among adults aged 45–64 and lowest among adults aged 65+.

Source: CDC sleep duration data

By state, short-sleep prevalence ranges from roughly 28% (lowest) to over 45% (highest), with the Southeast US consistently highest.

Source: CDC BRFSS state-level estimates

Average self-reported nightly sleep among US adults has hovered around 6.8 hours over the past decade — below the 7-hour minimum.

Source: Gallup Annual Sleep Polls

Roughly 30% of US adults report difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep on most nights.

Source: National Health Interview Survey (NHIS)

An estimated 50–70 million US adults have a chronic sleep disorder.

Source: NHLBI / Institute of Medicine review

Approximately 26% of US adults aged 30–70 meet criteria for moderate-to-severe obstructive sleep apnea.

Source: Peppard et al., American Journal of Epidemiology, 2013

Up to 80% of moderate-to-severe sleep apnea cases remain undiagnosed.

Source: American Academy of Sleep Medicine (Hidden Health Crisis report)

Chronic insomnia affects roughly 10–15% of adults; short-term insomnia symptoms affect 30–40% in any given year.

Source: AASM clinical guideline (Qaseem 2016)

Restless legs syndrome affects approximately 7–10% of US adults.

Source: NIH NINDS

Narcolepsy affects an estimated 1 in 2,000 people in the US.

Source: NIH NINDS

Insufficient sleep costs the US economy up to $411 billion per year — roughly 2.28% of GDP.

Source: RAND Corporation, Why Sleep Matters report (2016)

Workers who sleep less than 6 hours per night lose an estimated 6 working days per year to absenteeism and presenteeism compared with workers who sleep 7–9 hours.

Source: RAND, Why Sleep Matters (2016)

Increasing sleep duration from under 6 hours to between 6 and 7 hours could add roughly $226 billion to the US economy.

Source: RAND, Why Sleep Matters (2016)

Drowsy driving costs the US economy an estimated $109 billion per year, excluding property damage.

Source: AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety / NHTSA

NHTSA estimates approximately 91,000 police-reported crashes per year involve drowsy drivers.

Source: NHTSA

Drowsy-driving crashes result in an estimated 50,000 injuries and 800 fatalities per year (NHTSA estimate; CDC and AAA figures suggest the true number may be substantially higher).

Source: NHTSA / CDC / AAA Foundation

Driving after 18 hours awake produces impairment equivalent to a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.05%; after 24 hours, equivalent to 0.10%.

Source: Dawson & Reid, Nature, 1997

About 1 in 25 adult drivers report having fallen asleep at the wheel in the past 30 days.

Source: CDC

Approximately 16% of US wage and salary workers — about 21 million people — work an alternative shift schedule (evenings, nights, rotating, or irregular).

Source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics

An estimated 10–40% of shift workers meet criteria for shift work disorder, characterized by insomnia or excessive sleepiness related to their schedule.

Source: AASM (Wickwire 2017)

Night-shift work has been classified by the IARC as a probable human carcinogen (Group 2A), based primarily on increased breast and prostate cancer risk.

Source: International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), 2019

Rotating shift workers have a 40% higher risk of cardiovascular disease compared with day workers in long-term cohort studies.

Source: Vyas et al., BMJ, 2012

Sleeping less than 7 hours per night is associated with increased risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity, depression, and all-cause mortality.

Source: CDC summary of multi-cohort evidence

Both short (<6h) and long (>9h) sleep are associated with elevated all-cause mortality in adults.

Source: Cappuccio et al., Sleep, 2010 (meta-analysis)

Adults who sleep less than 6 hours per night have a 48% higher risk of developing or dying from coronary heart disease compared with those sleeping 7–8 hours.

Source: Cappuccio et al., European Heart Journal, 2011

Short sleep is associated with a 30% increased risk of obesity in adults and a 89% increased risk in children.

Source: Cappuccio et al., Sleep, 2008 (meta-analysis)

Adults reporting fewer than 6 hours of sleep have roughly twice the risk of incident type 2 diabetes compared with those sleeping 7–8 hours.

Source: Shan et al., Diabetes Care, 2015 (dose-response meta-analysis)

Caffeine has a half-life of 5–6 hours in healthy adults — meaning a 200 mg coffee at 3 PM still has 100 mg active in your system at 9 PM.

Source: Drake et al., Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 2013

Caffeine consumed up to 6 hours before bedtime can reduce total sleep time by an average of 41 minutes in controlled trials.

Source: Drake 2013

85% of US adults consume at least one caffeinated beverage per day; the average daily intake is approximately 165 mg.

Source: FDA / National Coffee Association

Although alcohol shortens sleep latency, it suppresses REM sleep in the first half of the night and produces fragmented, less restorative sleep in the second half.

Source: Ebrahim et al., Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, 2013

Using a light-emitting eReader before bed delays sleep onset, suppresses melatonin, and reduces next-morning alertness compared with a print book.

Source: Chang et al., PNAS, 2015

Approximately 90% of US adults use a screen-based device within an hour of bedtime on most nights.

Source: National Sleep Foundation Sleep in America Poll

Teenagers (13–18) need 8–10 hours of sleep per 24-hour period; only about 25% report getting that much.

Source: AASM / CDC YRBS

About 73% of US high school students sleep less than 8 hours on school nights.

Source: CDC Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System

New parents lose an average of 109 minutes of sleep per night during the first year of their child's life.

Source: Richter et al., Sleep, 2019

Mothers' sleep duration does not return to pre-pregnancy levels until approximately 6 years after the birth of a first child.

Source: Richter et al., Sleep, 2019

Adults aged 65+ tend to fall asleep earlier and wake earlier than younger adults — a circadian phase advance, not reduced sleep need.

Source: Carskadon & Dement, Principles & Practice of Sleep Medicine

Insomnia prevalence rises with age: roughly 30–48% of adults aged 60+ report insomnia symptoms.

Source: Foley et al., Sleep, 1995 (and subsequent replications)

After 17–19 hours awake, performance on attention and reaction-time tasks is equivalent to or worse than performance at a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.05%.

Source: Dawson & Reid, Nature, 1997

Two weeks of restricting sleep to 6 hours per night produces cognitive impairment equivalent to two consecutive nights of total sleep deprivation — but subjects don't notice the decline.

Source: Van Dongen et al., Sleep, 2003

Adults with insomnia have approximately a 2x increased risk of developing major depression compared with adults without insomnia.

Source: Baglioni et al., Journal of Affective Disorders, 2011 (meta-analysis)

One night of total sleep deprivation increases anxiety by approximately 30% on standardized scales.

Source: Ben Simon et al., Nature Human Behaviour, 2020

A single hour gained in nightly sleep is associated with a measurable increase in next-day positive affect and decrease in stress reactivity.

Source: Sin et al., Sleep Health, 2017

A 10–20 minute nap improves alertness and cognitive performance for 2–3 hours afterward — without the grogginess (sleep inertia) of longer naps.

Source: Brooks & Lack, Sleep, 2006

A 90-minute nap allows a full sleep cycle, including REM and slow-wave sleep, and is the most restorative duration when full nighttime sleep is not possible.

Source: Mednick et al., Behavioural Brain Research, 2003

Regular physical activity is associated with a 65% improvement in sleep quality, measured across 305 randomized trials.

Source: Kredlow et al., Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 2015 (meta-analysis)

Even a single bout of moderate exercise reduces sleep latency by approximately 10 minutes that same night in adults with mild insomnia.

Source: Kredlow et al., 2015

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) produces effect sizes comparable to or larger than sleep medications, and the effects persist after treatment ends.

Source: Trauer et al., Annals of Internal Medicine, 2015

The Monday after the spring DST transition shows an approximately 6% increase in fatal motor-vehicle crashes in the US.

Source: Fritz et al., Current Biology, 2020

Heart attack admissions increase by approximately 24% on the Monday after the spring DST shift.

Source: Sandhu et al., Open Heart, 2014

Stroke incidence rises by approximately 8% in the two days following the spring DST transition.

Source: Sipilä et al., Sleep Medicine, 2016

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine has formally recommended permanent standard time, citing alignment with circadian biology.

Source: AASM Position Statement, Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 2020

Approximately 1 in 5 US adults uses a smartwatch or fitness tracker; the majority of these devices include sleep tracking.

Source: Pew Research Center

Consumer wrist-worn trackers are reasonably accurate at total sleep time and sleep efficiency, but show limited accuracy at distinguishing specific sleep stages compared with polysomnography.

Source: de Zambotti et al., Chronobiology International, 2018

The global sleep-tech market exceeded $20 billion in 2024 and is projected to surpass $40 billion by 2030.

Source: Industry market reports (Grand View Research, P&S)