Stress and sleep
- Sixty-one percent of highly stressed teens say they feel sluggish or lazy versus 42 percent of teens with low stress.
- Fifty-four percent of highly stressed teens say they are irritable versus 25 percent of teens with low stress.
- Forty-four percent of highly stressed teens say they have trouble concentrating versus 20 percent of teens with low stress.
- Thirty-nine percent of highly stressed teens say they are more stressed versus three percent of teens with low stress.
- Twenty-six percent of highly stressed teens say they feel sad or depressed versus one percent of teens with low stress.
When it comes to stress, teens who get fewer than eight hours of sleep on a school night appear to fare worse than teens getting eight hours of sleep on school nights:
- Teens who sleep fewer than eight hours per school night report higher stress levels in the past month than teens who sleep at least eight hours per school night (5.2 vs. 4.1 on a 10-point scale).
- Teens who sleep fewer than eight hours on a school night are more likely than teens who sleep at lease eight hours on a school night to report experiencing symptoms of stress, such as feeling irritable or angry (50 percent vs. 32 percent), nervous or anxious (46 percent vs. 28 percent), depressed or sad (43 percent vs. 18 percent) and overwhelmed (42 percent vs. 22 percent).
Younger Americans (Millennials and Gen Xers) report getting fewer hours of sleep per night on average, and are more likely than other adults to say they do not get good-quality sleep and have more trouble achieving their sleep goals.8 Younger adults are more likely to say they feel stressed by a lack of sleep (Millennials: 29 percent; Gen Xers: 23 percent) than Boomers (19 percent) and Matures (7 percent). Millennials and Gen Xers are also more likely to report feeling sad or depressed because of stress (Millennials: 47 percent; Gen Xers: 42 percent; Boomers: 29 percent; Matures: 15 percent).