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. 2015 May 1;38(5):829-32.
doi: 10.5665/sleep.4684.

Trends in Self-Reported Sleep Duration among US Adults from 1985 to 2012

Earl S Ford  1 , Timothy J Cunningham  1 , Janet B Croft  1
Affiliations

Trends in Self-Reported Sleep Duration among US Adults from 1985 to 2012

Earl S Ford et al. Sleep. .

Abstract

Study objective: The trend in sleep duration in the United States population remains uncertain. Our objective was to examine changes in sleep duration from 1985 to 2012 among US adults.

Design: Trend analysis.

Setting: Civilian noninstitutional population of the United States.

Participants: 324,242 US adults aged ≥ 18 y of the National Health Interview Survey (1985, 1990, and 2004-2012).

Measurements and results: Sleep duration was defined on the basis of the question "On average, how many hours of sleep do you get in a 24-h period?" The age-adjusted mean sleep duration was 7.40 h (standard error [SE] 0.01) in 1985, 7.29 h (SE 0.01) in 1990, 7.18 h (SE 0.01) in 2004, and 7.18 h (SE 0.01) in 2012 (P 2012 versus 1985 < 0.001; P trend 2004-2012 = 0.982). The age-adjusted percentage of adults sleeping ≤ 6 h was 22.3% (SE 0.3) in 1985, 24.4% (SE 0.3) in 1990, 28.6% (SE 0.3) in 2004, and 29.2% (SE 0.3) in 2012 (P 2012 versus 1985 < 0.001; P trend 2004-2012 = 0.050). In 2012, approximately 70.1 million US adults reported sleeping ≤ 6 h.

Conclusions: Since 1985, age-adjusted mean sleep duration has decreased slightly and the percentage of adults sleeping ≤ 6 h increased by 31%. Since 2004, however, mean sleep duration and the percentage of adults sleeping ≤ 6 h have changed little.

Keywords: health surveys; sleep; trends.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Temporal changes in sleep duration among US adults aged ≥ 18 y, National Health Interview Survey. (A) Shift in the detailed age-adjusted distributions of sleep duration. (B) Shift in the age-adjusted distributions of sleep duration using three categories. (C) The age-adjusted prevalence ratios (95% confidence interval) for sleep ≤ 6 h in a 24-h period. (D) The age-adjusted prevalence ratios (95% confidence interval) for sleep ≥ 9 h in a 24-h period.
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