What City is the Most Sleepless in the World?

Do Americans sleep less than residents of other countries? How do our cities rank compared to those around the world? Thanks to a device that tracks sleep, activity and food, we now have an idea of the answers to those questions.

The Wall Street Journal recently analyzed data released by Jawbone, the company that makes the wristband device called UP.  The data comes from hundreds of thousands of UP users from cities all over the world.

We may call New York the city that never sleeps, but the most sleepless city in the world is actually Tokyo, where UP users averaged a paltry five hours and 46 minutes.  The best rested city is Melbourne, Australia, where UP users averaged more than seven hours per night.

Of the American cities, Denver UP users got the most sleep, averaging more than seven hours per night.  San Antonio had the most sleepless UP users, with an average of six hours and 40 minutes per night.  No American city made the five most rested or the five least rested cities.

The results came from data from one month, June of 2013.  It should also be noted that the data does not come from a representative sample.  The UP device costs about $150, so it’s safe to assume the sample is made up of people with disposable income.

The “top” and “bottom” five cities are listed below.  More data is available from the Wall Street Journal by clicking here.  To view a ranking of American cities from research we analyzed in 2012, view the SleepBetter.org Sleepless City Index.