Over Half Of Italian Women Struggle With Sleep

More than four in ten Italians are struggling to sleep, according to data from a Statista Consumer Insights survey.

The new data casts light on the prevalence of the problem in different countries, afflicting more than a third of respondents in each surveyed population and over 40 percent in the United States, France, South Africa and Italy.

A sleep disorder is here defined as problems with falling asleep or staying asleep, including insomnia.

Respondents were asked if they had experienced a sleep disorder in the 12 months prior to the survey.

Interestingly, as Statista's Anna Fleck reports, in all of the countries included on the chart below, women were more likely to have experienced a sleep disorder than men.

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In Italy the difference was particularly prevalent (at 54 percent of women versus 34 percent of men).

In the U.S. there was a 7 percentage point difference (43 percent women to 36 percent ment).

According to the Sleep Foundation, researchers say that women are more likely to experience insomnia as a result of a combination of sex based factors such as hormone production as well as gender based differences, which “may be driven by social and cultural disparities.” Predispositions to certain physical or mental health issues are also cited as possible factors believed to lead to higher rates of sleeplessness in women.