What’s the Connection Between Race and Sleep Disorders?

Sleep disorders are usually affected by factors such as lifestyle and mental health, yet race plays a factor too. Sleep orders affect racial groups such as African Americans more than Caucasians. People in these racial groups like African Americans are more likely to suffer sleep disorders like insomnia, sleep apnea, having a poor quality of sleep, and being sleepy during the day. Other groups such as Hispanics and the Chinese sleep less than whites and have difficulty breathing while they sleep.

These sleep disorders can have consequences not only on mental health but physical health as well. Poor sleeping habits have been linked to diseases such as heart disease and diabetes. Due to sleeping disorders affecting some races an effort has been made to determine why these groups encounter more sleeping disorders than whites.

Factors include socioeconomic factors and the amount of stress placed on some of these groups. Some racial groups are more likely to face discrimination than others, which increases stress levels, making it more likely for sleep disorders to happen. Also, childhood bedtime habits play a strong role in sleeping disorders. Children who did not have a strict bedtime growing up like African American and Hispanic groups are more likely to develop a disorder than their white counterparts.

Key Points:

  • 1Research has found race plays a part in risk of sleeping disorders.
  • 2Minorities are at a higher risk for insomnia and sleep apnea than are Caucasians.
  • 3It is believed that social and economic factors are the cause of the increase in risk.


While factors like lifestyle and mental health can raise your risk for sleep disorders, so can something else: your race. Racial minorities have a higher risk for sleep disorders like insomnia than Caucasians.
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Written by HealthStatus
Medical Writer & Editor

HealthStatus has been operating since 1998 providing the best interactive health tools on the Internet, millions of visitors have used our health risk assessment, body fat and calories burned calculators. The HealthStatus editorial team has continued that commitment to excellence by providing our visitors with easy to understand high quality health content for many years.

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