Sleep Study: Declining Sleep Quality Worldwide
Analyzing data from no less than 716 million nights, Samsung conducts
one of the largest single sleep health studies ever undertaken. The
goal is to answer the question: “Have We Been Sleeping Well?”
As it turns out, the answer is “No!” – and things everywhere and for
everyone get worse, according to data.
The report scans 716 million nights of sleep behaviors from Samsung
Health and Galaxy Watch users worldwide. “Though interest in personal
sleep health has been skyrocketing, the unfortunate reality is that the
quality of sleep people get each night is, in fact, declining. The
world is facing a sleep dilemma,” says Samsung.
The data is collected between June 2021 and May 2023. The number of
users who actively track their sleep has increased by 182% in the past
two years, yet sleep efficiency and quality are declining everywhere
and for everyone. Samsung is comparing two periods: June 2021-May 2022
and June 2022-May 2023.
Samsung has discovered that the average sleep duration has declined
across the globe from 7 hours and 3 minutes to 6 hours and 59 minutes,
which is just below the 7-hour threshold recommended by the National
Sleep Foundation.
And while sleep duration declined, awake times during sleep have
increased, which ultimately leads to a decline in sleep efficiency — a
ratio of actual time asleep versus the total time spent in bed each
night.
This pattern was not isolated to any specific demographic or region. There was a reported decrease in sleep duration and efficiency across all sexes, age groups, and regions studied. Here are some key points:
- Though sleep efficiency continues to trend downward for males, females experienced the most notable decreases over the past year.
- Older demographics showed a greater decline in sleep efficiency. Notably, individuals aged over 70 experienced a decline nearly twice as much as that observed in those in their 20s.
- North America witnessed the greatest decrease in sleep efficiency, while Asia maintained the lowest.
- Outside of Europe and North America, all other regions had less than seven hours of sleep duration.
