Sleep Influenced By Race, Ethnicity And Country Of Origin, Studies Show: It's hard to imagine that there could be racial and ethnic distinctions in the way people sleep, but there are, according to research presented at the American Academy of Sleep Medicine's SLEEP 2012 conference Wednesday.
Two studies set out to explore sleep disparities among Americans based on racial and ethnic background. One study, conducted by researchers at the State University of New York (SUNY), looked at 400,000 respondents from the National Health Interview Surveys between 2004 and 2010 and found that those born in the United States were more likely to report sleeping longer than the recommended seven to nine hours each night. African-born Americans were more likely to report sleeping six hours or less, and Indian-born Americans reported six to eight hours a night.
