Adults who sleep fewer than eight hours a night report higher stress levels than those who sleep at least eight hours a night (5.5 vs. 4.4 on a 10-point scale).

On average, adults with lower reported stress levels report sleeping more hours a night than do adults with higher reported stress levels (7.1 vs. 6.2 hours). They are also more likely to say they have excellent or very good-quality sleep (33 percent vs. 8 percent) and get enough sleep (79 percent vs. 33 percent).

Adults who sleep fewer than eight hours a night are more likely to report symptoms of stress in the past month, such as feeling irritable or angry, than adults who sleep more than eight hours a night (45 percent vs. 32 percent of adults); feeling overwhelmed (40 percent vs. 27 percent); lacking interest, motivation or energy (42 percent vs. 30 percent); losing patience or yelling at their children (52 percent vs. 27 percent); losing patience or yelling at their spouse or partner (50 percent vs. 36 percent); and skipping exercise (41 percent vs. 33 percent). They are also more likely to say their stress has increased in the past year (40 percent vs. 25 percent).

Adults with high stress are more likely to say they are not getting enough sleep because their minds race (49 percent vs. 10 percent of adults with low stress).

Adults with high stress are also more likely than those with low stress to say they feel the effects of getting too little sleep:

• Sixty-eight percent say they feel sluggish or lazy versus 36 percent of adults with low stress.
• Fifty-nine percent say they are irritable versus 20 percent of adults with low stress.
• Forty-five percent say they have trouble concentrating versus 12 percent of adults with low stress.
• Forty-five percent say they feel more stressed versus five percent of adults with low stress.
• Twenty-seven percent say they feel sad or depressed versus two percent of adults with low stress.