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Self-reported Sleep Complaints With Long and Short Sleep: A Nationally Representative Sample

From the San Diego State University/University of California, San Diego Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology, San Diego, California (M.A.G.); and Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California (M.A.G., D.F.K.).

Address reprint requests to: Michael A. Grandner, UCSD Circadian Pacemaker Laboratory, 9500 Gilman Drive, Mail Code 0667, La Jolla, CA 92093-0667. Email: MGrandner{at}UCSD.edu

OBJECTIVE: Although the problems associated with insufficient sleep have been thoroughly researched, there has been far less substantiation of problems associated with long sleep. Recent evidence shows that habitual sleep duration greater than 7 hours is associated with increased rates of mortality. This study compared the rates of sleep problems in both long and short sleepers.

METHODS: Self-reported sleep complaints (eg, sleep onset latency, awakenings during the night, early morning awakenings, nonrestorative sleep, and daytime sleepiness) of nearly 1000 adults who participated in the National Sleep Foundation’s 2001 Sleep in America Poll, were compared with reported hours of weekday sleep.

RESULTS: There are U-shaped relationships of sleep complaints with reported weekday total sleep time. More specifically, 8-hour sleepers reported less frequent symptoms than long sleepers or 7-hour sleepers.

CONCLUSIONS: Thus, long sleepers, as well as short sleepers, report sleep problems, focusing attention to the often-overlooked problems of the long sleeper.

Key Words: sleep, • sleep disorders, • Long Sleeper Syndrome, • Short Sleeper Syndrome, • insomnia,

Abbreviations: TST = total sleep time.

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