Samsung scans 716 million nights: Sleep is declining everywhere and for everyone

Analyzing data from no less than 716 million nights, Samsung conducts one of the largest single sleep health studies ever undertaken. The goal is to answer the question: “Have We Been Sleeping Well?”

As it turns out, the answer is “No!” – and things everywhere and for everyone get worse, according to data (via SamMobile).

The report from Samsung scans 716 million nights of sleep behaviors from Samsung Health and Galaxy Watch users worldwide. “Though interest in personal sleep health has been skyrocketing, the unfortunate reality is that the quality of sleep people get each night is, in fact, declining. The world is facing a sleep dilemma”, says Samsung.

The data is collected between June 2021 and May 2023. The number of users who actively track their sleep has increased by 182% in the past two years, yet sleep efficiency and quality are declining everywhere and for everyone. Samsung is comparing two periods: June 2021-May 2022 and June 2022-May 2023.

Samsung has discovered that the average sleep duration has declined across the globe from 7 hours and 3 minutes to 6 hours and 59 minutes, which is just below the 7-hour threshold recommended by the National Sleep Foundation.

And while sleep duration declined, awake times during sleep have increased, which ultimately leads to a decline in sleep efficiency — a ratio of actual time asleep versus the total time spent in bed each night.

This pattern was not isolated to any specific demographic or region. There was a reported decrease in sleep duration and efficiency across all sexes, age groups, and regions studied. Here are some key points:

• Though sleep efficiency continues to trend downward for males, females experienced the most notable decreases over the past year.
• Older demographics showed a greater decline in sleep efficiency. Notably, individuals aged over 70 experienced a decline nearly twice as much as that observed in those in their 20s.
• North America witnessed the greatest decrease in sleep efficiency, while Asia maintained the lowest.
• Outside of Europe and North America, all other regions had less than seven hours of sleep duration.