Americans are exhausted, new CDC report says
Nearly a third of all American adults sleep on average less than the recommended seven hours per night.
By Jackie Flynn Mogensen edited by Claire Cameron
Deagreez/Getty Images
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Are you tired? If so, you are not alone. An alarming number of adults nationwide are tired most of the time, according to a new report from the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And this could have important implications for public health.
In 2024, the year the data was collected, nearly a third of all U.S. adults were sleeping less than the recommended seven hours per night on average. Only a little more than half of American adults reported waking up “well-rested” most days.
It’s hard to overstate the importance of sleep for your health: research shows that getting enough rest can reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseasehelp regulate hormonesAnd keep blood sugar under control and that it can even help to fight dementia. It can also affect your mood and mental health.
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That’s why health experts worry that so many adults seem to be missing out on those z’s. “Our need for sleep parallels our need for air and water,” Michael Grandner, director of the Sleep and Health Research Program at the University of Arizona, said in an interview. about the report with MedPage today.
According to the report, about 40 percent of black adults sleep an average of less than seven hours a night and are less likely to wake up well-rested than their Asian, white and Hispanic peers. Asian adults were most likely to feel well rested – around 62 percent. The report is part of the National Health Interview Survey, a poll involving thousands of American adults.
Men and women reported about the same rates of sleep deprivation, but men tended to say they woke up well-rested more often than women. Women were also more likely than men to say they had trouble falling asleep at night – with this experience reported by around 19% of women compared to around 12% of men.
Broken down by age, adults aged 65 and older reported waking up well-rested at least most days, with an impressive frequency of about 64% of the time. Adults aged 18 to 34, on the other hand, had the most trouble falling asleep of any age group.
If you have trouble falling asleep, experts recommend techniques like getting out of bed to do a calming activity like reading or breathing exercises, avoid scroll through the phone and snack and consult a doctor if the problem persists.
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