Americans Sleep the Best in the Summer, Snore the Most in the Winter

New Data Also Reveals Some Surprising Differences in How Americans Sleep Based on Gender and Geography

New internal data from Sleep Cycle, the best-selling alarm clock application, reveals how seasons affect our shut-eye.

It turns out that even though most Americans like a cold sleeping environment, they do their best sleeping in the warm months. The data also reveals in which states Americans are doing the best—and worst—sleeping and the differences between how men and women get their beauty rest.

Summertime and the Sleeping Is Easy
In the warmest months, the days are long, the kids are out of school, Americans are taking vacations and—according to Sleep Cycle’s data—enjoying the highest quality sleep of the year.

Looking at data from 2016-2018, Americans slept better on average during the warm months than during other seasons. Additionally:

• Americans stay up later during warm months
• Spend less time in bed
• Snore less than during the cold months

This may have more to do with vacation vibes and air conditioning than the weather, however: a recent survey of 1,000 U.S. adults conducted by Propeller Insights on behalf of Sleep Cycle revealed that three-quarters (75 percent) of Americans prefer a cool sleeping environment.

He Said, She Said
The same survey revealed many differences between American men and women when it comes to sleeping: Men do more snoring (55 percent) than women (51 percent), sleepwalking (11 percent) than women (8 percent), and sleep eating (7 percent) than women (4 percent). Women are 40 percent more likely to enjoy cuddling as men and about three times as likely to enjoy sleeping with an electric blanket. Women (37 percent) are also significantly more likely to indulge in screen time before bed than men (22 percent)—a big sleep quality no-no.

The new internal data added some additional color to the differences between how men and women sleep:

• On average, women sleep better than men, but men wake up in a better mood
• On average, men wake up earlier than women year-round
• Men go to bed 13 minutes later than women in the warm months
• During the cold months, women go to bed 13 minutes earlier than men and spend 18 minutes longer in bed

Geographically Sleeping
Geography also affects how Americans sleep: the Sleep Cycle data shows some interesting—and surprising—differences between states. For example:

• New Yorkers go to sleep the latest and snore the least (7.5 minutes a night)
• Alaskans snore the most (18 minutes a night)
• Wyomingites go to bed the earliest
• Hawaiians spend the least amount of time in bed and sleep the worst
• Coloradans sleep the best

“It can be tricky to get a good night’s sleep no matter who you are or where you live,” said Carl Johan Hederoth, CEO of Sleep Cycle. “That is why we created Sleep Cycle. It helps users to snore less, track sleep patterns so they can identify lifestyle choices that affect their sleep, and, most importantly, wakes them in the lightest phase of sleep so they wake up feeling refreshed—Summer, Spring, Winter and Fall.”