In the Age of Comfort, Why Are so Many Americans Losing Sleep?

Despite technological advancements that have eliminated historical sleep threats, a modern crisis persists as 14.5% of U.S. adults struggle to fall asleep and nearly 18% have trouble staying asleep.

These challenges are deeply influenced by systemic disparities, with lower-income households and rural residents reporting significantly higher rates of sleep difficulty than their wealthier or urban counterparts.

Americans beat the old threats to sleep and kept the sleeplessness. Federal household interviews found 14.5 percent of adults had trouble falling asleep and 17.8 percent trouble staying asleep, with rates climbing as income fell, from 21.9 percent below the poverty line to 12.6 percent at twice it. Guidelines name cognitive behavioral therapy the first treatment for insomnia, yet one study lost 40 percent of patients, many family doctors cannot identify it, and 8.4 percent of adults take sleep medication most nights instead The Atlantic. The burden lands hardest on poor and rural households, and federal data issued this April put the falling asleep rate at 15.4 percent, still rising new federal data.