Are more working adults getting too little sleep? A new survey suggests yes.

If you're a working adult who feels like you're getting less sleep than you used to, you're not alone. A recent look at national survey data shows the percentage of employed adults in the U.S. who report averaging six hours or less of sleep in a 24-hour period has increased. It went from 28.4% in 2008-2009 to 32.6% in 2017-2018. That means roughly one in three working adults now reports this short sleep duration. The data comes from surveys of adults aged 18 and older who were employed at the time. It's important to understand what this data is—and what it isn't. This is an observational snapshot based on people's own reports of their sleep. We don't know why the numbers went up. It could be due to work stress, screen time, or many other factors the survey didn't measure. The data also can't tell us if this lack of sleep is directly causing health problems for these individuals. It simply shows a shift in what people are reporting about their nightly rest.