Insufficient Sleep, Sleep Disturbance, and Napping in Australia: A Cross-Sectional Analysis From a Household-Based...

Sleep is a key public health issue, but insufficient or poor-quality sleep has traditionally been viewed as an individual health problem, with interventions targeted accordingly. A broader socioecological perspective suggests that sleep health is influenced by interacting individual, social, and societal-level factors. This exploratory study examines the prevalence and correlates of insufficient sleep, sleep disturbance, and napping within a socioecological framework, using a nationally representative sample of Australian households.

Data from 17,570 people aged over 15 from Wave 17 (2017) of the nationally representative Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey were used. Cross-sectional associations between a range of self-reported individual, sociodemographic, social, and societal-level factors with sleep outcomes (i.e., insufficient sleep duration, sleep disturbance, and napping) were examined using multiple logistic regression models.

Eighteen percent of participants had insufficient sleep according to age-based guidelines, 20% met criteria for sleep disturbance, and 30% napped at least weekly. While most significant correlates of the sleep outcomes were individual-level health behaviour and functioning factors, several social and societal-level correlates were also identified. These include marital status, living with young children, geography, relative neighbourhood socioeconomic position, and housing tenure status. Each was significantly associated with at least one sleep outcome.

These findings suggest that both individual and socio-environmental contextual factors influence sleep health, indicating potential for multi-level intervention strategies.