The vast majority of Australians do not have consistent bedtimes and most people fall short of eight hours sleep a night.
Only one in four people have consistent go-to-bed and wake-up times across six to seven nights, according to new research released today.
Around 38 percent of the adult population sleep for eight hours or more per night.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics said adults were generally more consistent in when they woke up compared to when they fell asleep.
The research was based on data collected from people wearing accelerometer monitors.
It found people over 18 slept for 7h 36min on average per night. Average nightly sleep duration varied in the adult population.
- Almost one in ten (9.1 percent) slept for less than 6 hours.
- A majority (62.5 percent) slept for 7 to less than 9 hours.
- A small proportion (2.4 percent) slept for 10 hours or longer.
“Going to sleep and waking up at a consistent time can improve many aspects of health and wellbeing, including physical and mental health, cardiovascular health and alertness,” the ABS said in a statement.
“Sleep is essential to supporting good health and wellbeing. Getting good sleep can contribute to healthy growth and development, aid cognitive performance and improve quality of life.”
Overall woman slept slightly longer than men and adults over 75 slept for around eight hours a night on average.
“On average, adults slept for longer on weekend nights than weeknights (7h 55min compared to 7h 32min),” the ABS said.
“One in five (20.8 percent) adults slept for an average of 9 hours or more on weekend nights, compared to 10.4 percent on weeknights.”
People living in major cities slept less than those living in regional and remote Australia.
People living in family households with dependent children slept an average of 7h 27min a night compared to 7h 43min for other households.
The full report is on the ABS website.
