If you’re tired today, you have plenty of company: 84 million Americans — nearly one-third of adults — aren’t getting enough sleep, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
These are the states that sleep the most — and the least
Libby Nelson was Vox’s editorial director, politics and policy, leading coverage of how government action and inaction shape American life. Libby has more than a decade of policy journalism experience, including at Inside Higher Ed and Politico. She joined Vox in 2014.
The report breaks down the percentage of people in each state sleeping at least seven hours. The Great Plains states are sleeping well, and Hawaii is sleeping terribly:
While the share of Americans reporting less than that is unchanged since 2008, Americans are sleeping much less than they used to. In 1942, just 11 percent of people said in a Gallup poll that they slept less than seven hours per night.
The report found that 65 percent of Americans get at least seven hours of sleep per night, the minimum amount recommended for good health. And as in all things in American life, there are stark race and class divides when it comes to getting a good night’s rest.
- Nearly half of all black Americans aren’t sleeping enough: Only 54 percent said they sleep at least seven hours, according to the study. The same was true for multiracial people and Native Americans. Meanwhile, 67 percent of whites were sleeping at least seven hours.
- People with a college degree are sleeping better than the less educated: 71 percent of college graduates slept at least seven hours, compared with 62 percent with a high school degree or less.
- While you might think work schedules are interfering with sleep, the study found that people who were unemployed or unable to work were more likely to be sleep-deprived than Americans with jobs.
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