Americans are so desperate for slumber that they prefer sleep over sex. And they’re so tired that they find themselves nodding off in strange places. The Better Sleep Council conducted a survey to find out what’s going on between the sheets.
Survey Finds Americans Willing to Sacrifice to Get a Good Night’s Sleep
Many Americans are so tired they prefer sleep to sex and find themselves falling asleep at all the wrong times.
Sleep wins out over sex
Sleep is the activity most people now long for the most in bed.
- 6 in 10 Americans crave sleep more than sex
- Some admit to falling asleep during sex
- 58% of men crave sex (over sleep) compared to women ( 21%)
- 79% of women crave sleep (over sex) compared to men (42%)
Sleep starvation leads to sleeping around
Americans are so tired that they don’t even need to be in bed to sleep.
- 45% of Americans fall asleep some place other than their mattress once a week or more
- One-third of Americans are “sleeping around” (sleeping someplace other than their own mattress) more than once a week; 1 in 10 does so each day
- 67% of Americans admit to falling asleep in other places every few weeks
- 14% of men nod off or fall asleep somewhere other than their bed each day, compared to 8% of women
Americans find sleep in strange places
People are so tired they are falling asleep anytime and anywhere.
- 12% have dozed off at work (double this if you include students)
- 10% have fallen asleep at school
- 7% of Americans nod off in church
- 7% admit to sleeping in the car (some of those while driving!)
- 6% have slept on public transportation
- 4% couldn’t stay awake at a movie theater
- 4% have fallen asleep in a bathroom
- 3% caught some shut-eye in a meeting
Some other unusual places people have found themselves sleeping include:
- On a tree or roof
- While walking
- At a casino
- During a funeral
- In a swamp
- At drag races
- In an elevator
- During yoga classes
- At the dentist
- On a ski lift
- In a tank
- While in military formation
- On a saw horse
- At a bar
- During a rock concert
Getting to the bottom of sleep problems
Many people blame their mattress for their lack of sleep.
- As many Americans admit to hating their mattress (8%) as those who love it (7%)
- Two-thirds of Americans are unsatisfied with time spent on their mattress
- 28% of 18- to 34-year-olds have a mattress older than 5 years old
- 44% of 35- to 54-year-olds have a mattress older than 5 years old
- 54% of 55-year-olds+ have a mattress older than 5 years old
Survey Details: Conducted in first quarter 2012 with a statistically representative sample of U.S. adults (18+); a sample size of 1,000 yields a confidence interval of 95% +/- 3% .
