People in France not sleeping enough, says study
France’s lack of sleep has consequences for national health, and is similar to UK and US levels
The national sleep institute in France is calling for a 'Somno-Score' to tackle chronic lack of sleep
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France should have a new health indicator for sleep, similar to the Nutri-Score for food, the national sleep institute has said, after a study showed an average sleep time of just six hours, 50 minutes per night.
The average amount of sleep that people get in France is far less than the recommended amount of sleep for adults and teenagers (seven to nine hours, and eight to ten hours, respectively), showed the study for the national sleep institute l’Institut national du sommeil et de la vigilance (INSV), which was published on March 10.
A quarter of people in France report sleeping for fewer than six hours per night during the week (the average for the weekend is seven hours, 48 minutes).
Similarly:
People are also sleeping 15 minutes less per night than the average in 2024, the study showed.
Some sleep specialists have called for society to take greater account of the importance of sleep, and biological rhythms (such as the circadian rhythm; the daily ‘body clock’ that regulates sleep).
“The INSV is raising the question of a sleep and circadian health indicator, which it suggests we could call the Somno-Score,” wrote Jean-Arthur Micoulaud-Franchi and Isabelle Poirot (from the INSV) in the medical journal Médecine du sommeil earlier this year.
The idea is inspired by the Nutri-Score, a voluntary metric that can be published on food packaging to show how nutritional it is (from the best score of A to the worst score of E).
The aim would not be to measure people’s sleep directly, but to identify the factors (such as devices, activities, and even food or drink) that influence sleep, the writers said.
How does a lack of sleep affect health?
Sleep contributes to almost all aspects of health, the INSV says, and a “[lack of] sleep appears to be both a symptom and an aggravating factor in health problems,” said Dr Micoulaud-Franchi.
Poor sleep can increase the risk of serious conditions including:
Cognitive disorders
Cardiovascular disease
Diabetes
Cancer
Mental health disorders
“When you sleep less [for just] one night, you are more irritable, more anxious, more easily annoyed and, in the long term, your mental health is affected,” states Claude Gronfier, research director at medical research institute Inserm, for the neuroscience research centre le Centre de recherche en neurosciences de Lyon, to Le Monde.
Why are people sleeping poorly in France?
Work and school pressures are contributing factors to a lack of sleep, the INSV said, such as:
People in France also spend too much time indoors, the study found, which means they do not get enough natural light to synchronise their circadian rhythm.
Modern society is partly to blame, said Dr Gronfier. “Our society is chronobiologically toxic. Everything is designed to ensure we sleep as little as possible.”
A lack of outside light, and too much indoor or artificial light, can make the situation worse, the INSV added. This is particularly true of the ‘blue’ light emitted from screens before bed.
71% of people in France spend less than an hour a day outdoors during the week
27-30% of French people leave a screen (mobile, television, computer) on while they sleep
18% leave a light or nightlight on while they sleep.
As well as blue light, receiving night-time notifications on devices can also disrupt sleep and raise stress levels, the INSV said.
“Simple adjustments could help you gain thirty minutes of sleep each night”, said Dr Gronfier.
These include:
Not keeping your phone or other devices switched on near you in your bedroom
Choosing warm lighting in your bedroom
Avoiding excess noise at night
Avoiding alcohol and stimulants in the later half of the day or in the evenings
Ensuring your bedroom is not too hot or too cold
Taking more physical activity during the day
The advice comes as a recent internet trend has suggested that French women “get their sleep” and tend to practice “the perfect French-girl nighttime routine”.
How does sleep in France compare to the US and UK?
France’s lack of sleep is similar to that seen in the UK and US, studies suggest, particularly among teenagers.
In France, “more than 30% of children and up to 70% of teenagers do not get enough sleep”, the INSV said in its report.
This dovetails with the most recent figures available from the US public health authority the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), which show that in 2021, 77% of teenagers were not getting enough sleep per night.
Similarly, another study of 120,000 American teenagers showed that the percentage of students reporting insufficient sleep (seven hours or less per night) rose from 68.9% in 2007 to 76.8% in 2023.
CDC data also shows that 36.8% of people in the US report “insufficient sleep”, which is classed as less than seven hours a night.
In the UK, the picture is similar.
A 2022 representative study found that 74% of UK adults had experienced a decline in quality sleep over the 12 months prior, with young adults aged 35-44 having the least sleep (almost 50% sleeping five to six hours per night and 33% seven to eight hours).
It also found that one in 10 people in the UK were sleeping only two to four hours per night.
