Satisfaction with Life in relation to Sleep Health among a Nationally Representative Sample of U.S. Adults

To investigate associations between life satisfaction and sleep health among adults in the United States.

We analyzed cross-sectional, nationally-representative data from the 2022 National Health Interview Survey. Life satisfaction was dichotomized as 'very satisfied/satisfied' vs. 'dissatisfied/very dissatisfied.' Sleep duration was defined as 'recommended' vs. 'short' (≥7 vs.<7 hours), frequent insomnia symptoms as difficulty falling/staying asleep: 'yes' [most days/every day to either] vs. 'no' [never/some days for both]), and restorative sleep as feeling well rested in the past 30 days: 'yes' [never/some days] vs. 'no' [most days/every day]. Using survey-weighted Poisson regression with robust variance adjusting for confounders, we estimated prevalence ratios (aPR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) overall and by age, sex, race, and ethnicity to test for effect modification.

Among 25,090 adults (mean age of 48.1±0.17 years; 54% women), 96.0% reported life satisfaction with comparable prevalence across age: 18-30 years [96.3%], 31-49 years [96.6%], and ≥50 years [95.3%]; and among men [95.8%] along with women [96.1%]. Prevalence by race and ethnicity ranged from 93.5% [non-Hispanic (NH)-Multiracial/other] to 98.3% [NH-Asian]. Life satisfaction vs. dissatisfaction was associated with recommended sleep duration (aPR:1.14 [95% CI:1.07-1.21]), restorative sleep (aPR:1.61 [95% CI:1.45 -1.79]), and infrequent insomnia symptoms (aPR:1.25 [95% CI:1.16-1.33]) even after further adjustment. Although life satisfaction varied by age, sex, race, and ethnicity, they did not modify associations between life satisfaction and sleep.

Life satisfaction was associated with recommended sleep duration, infrequent insomnia symptoms, and restorative sleep. Pathways underlying the life satisfaction-sleep relationship should be identified to inform interventions.