Check this out from the latest release of the American Time Use Survey:
This is a proud day, America. After years of hard work, we've finally broken the 9-hour sleep barrier. And this an average, so it literally took all of us working together to accomplish this. First rate effort, fellow citizens.
And in case some scoffer tries to tell you this is just because our great nation is aging, it's not so. Sleep has been rising steadily for every age group over the past two decades. This is truly an intergenerational victory.
Odd, if I sleep more than 7.5 hours, I feel crappy. Surprised to hear that people sleep 9 hours on average. Seems like a lot of wasted time.
Can't say I know anyone who sleeps 9 hours or more a night.
It's all starting to make sense now. I hated my job because I would routinely get just 6 1/2 hours of sleep if I wanted to chillout after work.
You probably need to look somewhere other than an aging population. People have a strong tendency to sleep less rather than more as they get older. So it's probably not because we're aging.
Naps. I likes me my afternoon naps.
Thank the scientists who studied this topic, and the people who communicated the findings to the public. People are more likely to understand these days that sleep is not a luxury, it's a necessity for your health and functioning. Denying yourself sleep does not enable you to get more done, it leads to making worse use of all your time because you're not functioning well. Getting enough sleep does not mean you are lazy, it means you are taking proper care of yourself.
This survey is consistently higher than other sleep surveys. There is no way the average is close to 9 hours a day.
I agree. All the reporting I have read is that Americans are generally sleep deprived, getting 6-7 hours a night, or often even less.
Hour of sleep gotten is not the same as time spent getting that sleep.
I dunno -- I haven't slept on average 9 hours / day since maybe my early 20s. Everyone I know in their 60s feels lucky to hit 7 hours; who are the people sleeping 11 hours to make up for us oldsters?
Don't think I've gotten more than 8 hours in any one night in 20 years. Averaging 9 hours would be impossible.
Trying to escape reality…
Now, that wouldn't surprise me, not that I could do it. But another trump administration & I might try harder. And I have the same question that Pittsburgh Mike expressed.
Man oh man. I’m not pulling my weight. Some lucky stiff is putting in 12 hours a day of pillow time to make up for me.
According to a 2023 Gallup poll, 26% of Americans get 8+ hours of sleep per night, 53% get 6-7, and 20% get 5 or less.
There is no way to bring the average up to 9 hours unless the folks in that 26% are sleeping over 13 hours per day. Are we really supposed to believe that a quarter of the population spends more than half their lives asleep?
Either this survey is totally wrong, or (more likely) something is getting misinterpreted along the way.
'Time actually asleep' is different than 'time spent to get that sleep, including naps'
How much time do you spend asleep on average?
Vs
How much time do you set aside for sleeping, including naps?
Heh. I just (re) posted this to my Facebook. Looking at USA politics, it's starting to ring even more true 🙂
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUw3s4evhTE
If this survey includes all ages, then it includes babies and young children too. Babies sleep 16 hours a day and young children get 10+ hours (with an 8 pm bed time and an early awakening). Children are 22% of the population.
The website says a person in the household must be at least 15 years old to answer how she or he spends the day.
The PDF Report from the American Time Use Survey has some results by age and yes, the 9+ hours applies to those 15 years or older.
The footnote says "Includes naps and spells of sleeplessness". So it includes time wishing you were asleep? Anyway you would have to see the actual questions to figure out what is going on here. I agree with many other commenters that this much average sleep for adults, or even time in bed, is absurd. The secular increase is also absurd.
The amount of time you're trying to get to sleep or trying to wake up but not up are definitely in the 'sleeping' category.
This just tells me that TV is getting crappier.
I've slept ten a night since I was a teen. I even have a modafinil prescription to keep me going in days I start flagging. Eight hour days have always been a slog.