Are Alabamians getting enough sleep?

Some mornings the coffee just isn’t strong enough.

Have you ever noticed yourself yawning throughout the day? Do your coworkers get sick of hearing about how late you stayed up or how little you slept last night? Have you ever considered selling your soul to the Devil for just one more glorious hour of sleep?

You aren’t alone. The struggle is real.

Jawbone, the maker of the UP fitness-tracking wristband, used data collected from over one million UP wearers to examine the sleep habits of Americans, including average bedtime and total hours of sleep each night. Not surprisingly, they discovered that we could all use a little more sleep. Here’s a map showing the average time each county in America goes to bed:

(Click to enlarge)

To be sure, this data is far from perfect; Jawbone was only able to track data from users of its product. But it does give a good general idea of America’s sleep patterns, and most of their findings confirm what you would probably guess already.

For example, New York City really is the city that never sleeps. On average, Brooklyn has the latest bedtime in the country at 12:07 a.m. In fact, it’s the only place in America that goes to bed after midnight. If you’re hoping to hit the hay early, then Kauai and Maui, two Hawaiian counties, might be best for you. On average, people in Kauai and Maui go to bed around 10:30 p.m., the earliest in the country.

“Geography has a profound effect on the routines we follow and the habits we form. Our sleep cycles adapt to the pace and lifestyle of the world we live in and the world by which we are surrounded,” writes Tyler Nolan, a data science intern at Jawbone.

So what about Alabama?

With an average bedtime of 11:32 p.m., Russell has the latest bedtime of any county in the state. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Randolph and Clay counties go to bed the earliest in the state–10:58 p.m.

The state average is 11:10 p.m.

Jawbone was also able to calculate the average number of hours of sleep we get each night. Not surprisingly, if you live in a big city, you’re probably going to get less sleep. More rural areas seem to do better. Here’s a map showing the average amount sleep each county in American gets:

(Click to enlarge)

The National Institute of Health suggests that adults get 7-8 hours of sleep each night. Overall, Alabama seems to be doing pretty well, although we do flirt with the line a little bit. The majority of counties get between 7-7.25 hours each night, which technically meets the NIH’s recommended amount of sleep, but barely. Here’s how many hours of sleep every county in Alabama is getting on average:

So what about you? How many hours of sleep do you get each night? Do you feel like it’s enough? Let us know in the comments below.

---

Follow Cort on Twitter @CortGatliff