Which state's the sleepiest?
University of Pennsylvania researchers have it all mapped out.
Published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, Penn Medicine researchers analyzed data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to find out which states had the most sleep disturbances and daytime fatigue.
Southern states showed the most sleep problems in the study. Largely, the researchers found that the states with high rates of health problems like obesity also were the ones with the highest prevalences of the sleep problems.
"Sleep disturbance is a major public health concern. However, geographic dispersion of sleep problems, and the factors that may play a role in why some states or regions get better sleep, have been largely unexplored," study researcher Michael A. Grandner, PhD, a research associate at the Center for Sleep and Circadian Neurobiology at Penn, said in a statement. "Our study generated the first sleep maps for the U.S. that include data on sleep disturbance and daytime fatigue across most of the country."
The researchers based their sleep map off of data from 36 states and territories, from 157,319 people who were surveyed in the 2006 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. Researchers adjusted for the survey results based on demographics (like age and sex, and race and ethnicity), mental health (like depression), physical health (like obesity status and physical health) and substance use (like alcohol consumption or smoking).
"We should begin to use this data to track patterns of poor sleep and try to understand why these patterns occur," Grandner said in the statement. "Sleep is such an important part of overall health, we need to do everything we can to help give a good night's sleep to those in the highest-risk regions."
Check out the results of the study, in ranked form, from the states/territories with the least daytime fatigue to the most daytime fatigue. And be sure to weigh in in the comments section about what you thought of the results!
