Improve Sleep, Improve the World and Health: ResMed’s Look at Global Sleep Trends

The world would be a better place if we had more, and better quality sleep.

That’s the hopeful conclusion from the fifth annual Global Sleep Survey from ResMed.

ResMed’s global reach with the sleeping public enabled the company to access the perspectives of over 30,000 respondents in 13 markets, finding that one in 3 people have trouble falling or staying asleep 3 or more times a week.

We now live in “a world struggling with poor sleep” — “a world without rest,” ResMed coins our sleepless situation.

The irony is that most people believe that sleep makes us feel better, but only 24% of people would take action to improve their sleep health, ResMed found,

What causes poor sleep? First and among a majority of the sleepless, the top factor is stress, followed by anxiety, financial pressures, and then mental health conditions,

Family and relationship issues can also compromise peoples’ sleep; for example, people currently separated or legally divorced from partners were most likely to be at-risk for relationship stress.

There is also a gender gap when it comes to sleep health, as ResMed calls out a Female Sleep Deficit. Women more likely have fewer nights of good sleep a week than men, and have more trouble falling asleep and staying asleep. Also near two times the number of women say their partner disrupts their sleep (20%) than man experiencing sleep disruption from their partner (11%).

Health Populi’s Hot Points:  Why worry about sleep?

Sleep directly relates to peoples’ overall health status and well-being. Poor sleep has what ResMed terms here a ripple effect on physical, mental, and I can argue fiscal/financial health as well (on that point, see the full ResMed report on the survey insights related to employers, workplaces, and productivity losses due to poor sleep in the workforce).

ResMed calls out a few of the ripple effects such as mental distress — noting that people who sleep six hours or less are two-and-a-half times more likely to suffer from mental distress. Unsafe driving is another toxic side effect from ill sleep health.

But it’s the chronic health conditions I want to call our here — connecting the dots directly between poor sleep and chronic illnesses such as heart disease and Type 2 diabetes, among others where sleep negatively influences medical issues.

This is where we can focus on the home as peoples’ personal hubs for health — where sleep is absolutely a very personal driver of health that is amenable to self-care and tactics people can take into their own hands at home (and in the workplace with support from design-ful employer health benefit planning).

Carlos Nunez, MD, the Chief Medical Officer of ResMed, collaborated on my panel at CES 2025 focused on opportunities to re-imagine our homes for our health across the continuum from acute hospital-to-home to self-care modes of eating well, bolstering environmental health (clean air, clean water), taking on more fitness and exercise, and of course, resting and relaxing. As Carlos noted in the report’s press release,

“Chronic poor sleep impacts our relationships, workplace productivity, and increases the risk of cognitive decline, mood disorders, and serious health conditions like heart failure and stroke. For individuals with untreated or poorly managed sleep apnea, these risks are even greater. That’s why talking with a doctor about treating disrupted sleep is important.”

CES 2025 featured a broad range of sleep-tech and sleep services that are a growing aspect of the overall digital health track of the conference and show floor — from beds (smart-er, temperature controllable), to wearable tech, sound machines and devices that help us relax, and lighting tech to attend to our circadian rhythms. Now furniture and design retailers are developing sleep-health goods and support, such as Ashley furniture collaborating with Samsung, and IKEA re-imagining home design for our mental health and wellbeing, among these holistically health oriented retailers.