Researchers examined self-reported sleep data and life expectancy across more than 3,000 US counties between 2019 and 2025.

By Joe Lombardi From Daily Voice

Many Americans underestimate how much sleep influences long-term health, but new research suggests the consequences may be far more serious than previously understood. 

A sweeping analysis of sleep habits and longevity across the country links insufficient rest to shorter life expectancy regardless of where someone lives, how much they earn, or what healthcare they can access.

Researchers examined self-reported sleep data and life expectancy across more than 3,000 US counties between 2019 and 2025.

Counties where more people slept fewer than seven hours a night consistently showed shorter life expectancies. That pattern held in wealthy suburbs, rural towns, and urban centers, and remained stable even when researchers accounted for other major health factors, including obesity, smoking, and physical inactivity.

The findings, published in SLEEP Advances, show that sleep insufficiency ranked as one of the strongest mortality predictors among the lifestyle factors studied.

It trailed only smoking in the initial analysis and outperformed other common risks, including diabetes and physical inactivity. 

When researchers ran a second model that factored in obesity and diabetes, both obesity and smoking showed stronger associations with life expectancy than sleep insufficiency, but inadequate sleep held its place as a meaningful, independent predictor.

The research team from Oregon Health & Science University analyzed national data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. 

Participants answered a simple but revealing question: “On average, how many hours of sleep do you get in a 24-hour period?” Responses showed that counties with higher rates of insufficient sleep often had noticeably shorter life expectancies, creating sharp contrasts between neighboring communities.

In some cases, a county where 40 percent of residents slept fewer than seven hours sat next to one where only 25 percent did, and the life expectancy gap spanned several years.

Those gaps appeared in nearly every state, year after year. Only three states showed weaker correlations in 2025, but the relationship remained consistent nationwide from 2019 through 2024.

“I didn’t expect it to be so strongly correlated to life expectancy,” said senior author Andrew McHill, Ph.D., an associate professor at Oregon Health & Science University, in a statement. “We’ve always thought sleep is important, but this research really drives that point home: People really should strive to get seven to nine hours of sleep if at all possible.”

Because sleep duration is a modifiable habit, researchers say the findings offer practical targets for local health departments. 

Communities may consider workplace policies, school start times, public awareness efforts, or programs for shift workers to help address chronic sleep insufficiency.