The CDC Just Confirmed America Has a Sleep Problem and Women Are Hit Hardest
I’ve been saying it for years. And now the CDC has the receipts.
Fresh data from the CDC’s 2024 National Health Interview Survey, which is one of the largest, most comprehensive health surveys in the country, paints a pretty blunt picture of how Americans are sleeping. Or more accurately, how they’re NOT sleeping.
The Numbers Are Not Great
Here’s what the 2024 data found:
30.5% of adults slept less than the recommended 7 hours per night, nearly 1 in 3
Only 54.8% woke up feeling well-rested most days or every day. That means almost half of Americans are starting their day already running on empty
15.4% had trouble falling asleep most days or every day
18.1% had trouble staying asleep most days or every day
12.9% used some kind of sleep aid (prescription medications, over-the-counter supplements, or marijuana and CBD products)
And what makes this especially unsetting? These numbers are, in the words of AASM spokesperson, “shockingly consistent” with data from prior years. This means American has a major, low baseline in terms of good sleep.
Women Are Struggling More (that doesn’t surprise me)
The data showed a consistent gap between men and women across every sleep measure:
Women were more likely to have trouble falling asleep (18.5% vs 12.2% of men)
Women were more likely to have trouble staying asleep
Women were less likely to wake up feeling well-rested (51.7% vs 58.2%) of men
As someone who is a woman and works primarily with women, this tracks completely. The mental load doesn’t clock out when you get into bed. The worrying, the planning, the emotional labor, the caregiving that never fully stops, etc. It follows women under under the covers and now showing up in data.
A major call out here is that women’s health needs more research and education. Women’s health has historically been understudied. For decades, clinical research defaulted to male subjects, and findings were simply extrapolated to women as if biology and lived experience were interchangeable. Sleep research is no exception. We’re only beginning to understand how hormonal fluctuations across the menstrual cycle, pregnancy, postpartum, and menopause affect sleep architecture, circadian rhythms, and insomnia risks in ways that are fundamentally different from men. More healthcare researchers and clinicians are now actively pushing for this gap to close, and the advocacy is long overdue. The data showing women sleep worse is a call to study more intentionally, treating women more specifically and stop assuming that what works for men works for everyone.
1 in 8 Americans Are Using a Sleep Aid
A separate CDC report on sleep aid use found that in 2024, 12.9% of adults used some form of a sleep aid. That breaks down as:
5.2% using prescription sleep medication
5.7% using over-the-counter medications or supplements
3.7% using marijuana or CBD products
None of these are inherently wrong. But they’re worth putting in context: sleep aids manage symptoms. They don’t fix the underlying reasons you’re not sleeping. And for the millions of Americans using them long-term, most aren’t getting any better at actually sleeping. They’re just getting through the night.
The most effective long-term solution for insomnia, recommended above medication by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I). It addresses the patterns keeping you awake that sleep aids do not do.
Why This Data Matters
One of the experts quoted in the reporting around this data put it plainly: if half of Americans are waking up not-well rested, then half of employees are showing up to work tired. Half of students are sitting in class tired. Half of clinicians working in hospitals are starting their shifts tired. This is a public health problem.
Sleep affects cardiovascular health, metabolism, immune function, mental health, decision-making and emotional regulation. When we normalize exhaustion, when we wear tired as a badge of how hard we’re working, then we are normalizing a slow drain on every system in the body.
As the AASM guidelines make clear, adults need at least 7 hours of sleep.
The Biggest Problem? People Aren’t Asking for Help
This is part that gets me. One of the sleep medicine experts commenting on this data noted that people still aren’t talking to their doctors when they’re struggling with sleep. They aren’t reaching out for help. They are just pushing through. Buying melatonin at CVS. Having another cup of coffee. Scrolling through the phone until 1am and then wondering why they feel terrible. Telling themselves this is just the way it is.
It doesn’t have to be!
Insomnia is one of the most treatable conditions in sleep medicine. The tools exist and research is there. What’s missing for folks is the permission to take their sleep seriously enough to actually address it.
Your Sleep Is Necessary
The CDC data is a mirror. And what it’s reflecting back is a country that has collectively decided sleep is negotiable. That being tired is just the cost of a full life.
It isn’t. Your body needs sleep the same way it needs air and water. And if you’ve been struggling, if you’re one of the nearly 1 in 3 adults not getting enough, or one of the millions waking up and immediately feeling behind, then it’s worth doing something about. You are worth it!
Ready to Actually Sleep Better?
I offer virtual CBT-I for clients in Illinois and Texas. Contact me today to get started on your sleep journey. Are you a therapist wanting to incorporate CBT-In into your practice to help your patients? I provide 1:1 CBT-I practice consulting and done-for-you tools to help in your practice.
