Sweet dreams, bright futures: the relationship between sleep duration and health, income and education

Purpose To examine the relationship between sleep duration and health, income, and education. Methods Sleep, demographic, income, education and wellness data from 49,365 participants aged 18 years and older were sourced from the 2017 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS). The BRFSS is a cross-sectional telephone survey conducted by state health departments with technical and methodological assistance provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Self-reported sleep duration was assessed as well as self-perceptions of health and wellness. Results Individuals with average daily sleep durations between 7 and 9 h reported significantly better physical and mental wellness as compared to those who reported fewer than 7 h or more than 9 h of sleep per day ( p < 0.001). Similarly, individuals reporting adequate sleep duration of 7–9 h per day also reported the highest self-ratings of overall health and life satisfaction ( p < 0.001), the highest levels of income, and the greatest percentage of 4-year college degrees of the three sleep duration groups. Conclusion This study suggests that adequate sleep is associated with better health, higher income, and higher education. Whether adequate sleep resulted in, or was a result of, better health, higher income and higher education, a relationship between them is clear.