Interactive map shows where Mainers are getting the most sleep

The Washington Post published an interactive map today based on data findings in a new study on how much Americans are sleeping. Or, perhaps better stated, how much Americans are not sleeping.

The map breaks down what percentage of people in each county reports getting insufficient sleep at least 15 of the last 30 days. So, basically, the map is color-coded based on how many people say they’re not getting enough sleep.

Click here to see and interact with the map.

Zeroing in on our state, it quickly becomes apparent that approximately one out of every four Mainers reports getting insufficient sleep at least half the time.

The county where Mainers get the worst sleep is Somerset County, where a state-high 28.62 percent of people say they don’t get enough shut-eye.

The best sleepers in the state can be found in Lincoln County, where only 19.55 percent — just less than one in every five people — say they get insufficient sleep more often than not.

While these numbers may seem high, they paint a downright cozy picture compared to Texas, where three counties show 67 percent or more people not getting enough sleep, or Tennessee, where they’ve got three counties up above 50 percent.

Twenty-six counties included in the study (including many in Texas, in fairness) showed zero percent of respondents reporting insufficient sleep. And these aren’t the counties showing what researchers are calling “not enough data,” so they’re actually coming up zeroes.

Everyone in Jasper County, Georgia, apparently, gets plenty of sleep, for instance. Which I find hard to believe. But whatever.

The broad numbers are coming from a 2009 federal study of about 432,000 respondents, re-analyzed for a report published in the journal Sleep Health this week.

Doctors say adults need between seven and eight hours of sleep every night, and at least one study finds that the average American gets eight and a half hours of sleep every night.

The Washington Post reports that, generally — and perhaps intuitively — people who work long hours get lesser amounts of sleep and that poor people get much less sleep than rich people.