Sex and racial/ethnic disparities in sleep duration and timing on weekdays and weekends across lifespan in the US population

Background

Sleep affects health. Sleep habits differ between population subgroups and may also differ between weekdays and weekends; however, these patterns are rarely described at the population level.

Purpose

To investigate age and racial/ethnic differences in sleep duration and timing between weekdays (workdays) and weekends (non-workdays).

Methods

A cross-sectional analysis of the US nationally representative data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey among adolescents (16-19 years) and adults (≥20 years).

Results

Data on 10069 individuals were analyzed (51% female), including 959 adolescents and 9110 adults. The hours per night of sleep were shorter during weekdays (7.6, 95%CI: 7.6 to 7.7) than on weekends (8.3, 95% CI: 8.3 to 8.2). Females slept shorter hours than males on weekdays (7.7 [95%CI, 7.7 to 7.8] vs. 7.5 [95%CI, 7.4 to 7.5]) and on weekends (8.5, [95%CI, 8.4 to 8.5] vs. 8.2 [95% CI, 8.1 to 8.2]). Non-Hispanic blacks (7.4, 95% CI: 7.4 to 7.5) reported the shortest weekdays sleep. With respect to sleep timing, comparing to weekdays, males reported 30-min delayed weekends bedtime (23:30 [IQR, 22:30-00:30] vs. 23:00 [IQR, 22:00-00:00]), whereas both sexes reported 1.5-hour delayed weekends wake-up time (male: 07:30 [IQR, 06:30-09:00] vs. 06:00 [IQR, 05:30-07:30]; female: 08:00 [IQR, 06:30-09:00] vs. 06:30 [IQR, 05:30-07:30]). The delayed weekend bedtime and wake-up times were observed in all racial/ethnic groups.

Conclusions

In the US population, sleep habits differed between weekdays and weekends. Shorter sleep hours and delayed sleep timing were noted and more apparent among racial/ethnic minorities of both sexes.