How common is insomnia

How many people are affected by insomnia?
We all need sleep, but the actual amount varies from person to person and also depends on our age. Because our perception of the quality and quantity of sleep is personal it is not that easy to know how many people are living with insomnia. One study carried out by GPs in the Midlands among adults found that 37% of those questioned said they had insomnia, whilst studies of general population samples with the condition ranges from 10% to 48%.

A recent international survey of more than 10,000 people over the age of 15 found sleeping problems varied from country to country. More than half of those surveyed in the United States of America reported difficulty sleeping; this proportion dropped to just under a third in Western Europe and around a quarter in Japan.

Older adults experience greater difficulties with sleep. That can be due to sleep-related changes within the body which occur naturally with age. Once over the age of 65 the chance of having some difficulty in falling asleep, staying asleep or experiencing chronic insomnia rises. Most prescriptions for sleeping tablets written in the European Union and the USA are for people over the age of 65.

References

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Ancoli-Israel S, Roth T. Characteristics of insomnia in the United States: results of the 1991 National Sleep Foundation Survey. 1. Sleep 1999; 22(Suppl 2): S347–S353

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