Residents of Bourbon County and the Central Appalachian Coalfield are some of the nation’s most sleep-deprived

Bourbon County residents are some of the nation’s most sleep-deprived, according to county-level data from a study by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The study is based on a 2009 survey that asked 432,000 people how
many times over the past 30 days they didn’t get enough
sleep or rest. Respondents were separated into two categories:
people who reported poor sleep on fewer than 15 days, and those who reported
it on more than 15 days, Christopher Ingraham reports for The Washington Post.

Among Bourbon County respondents, 54 percent said they don’t get enough sleep, the seventh highest total in the nation. Many Central Appalachian Coalifield counties also had high rates; those in Kentucky were led by Harlan County, 49 percent; Floyd County, 44%; Breathitt County, 44%;
Knox County, 43%; Knott County, 41%; Pike County, 41%; and Morgan County,
40%. 

For an interactive version of the map, click here.

“Researchers looked at a number of social and demographic factors to see whether anything correlated—obesity, income, education, drinking rates, overall physical and mental health,” Ingraham writes. “They found, interestingly, that ‘relatively younger individuals of lower socioeconomic status and poorer health were more likely to live in hotspot counties.’ People who were generally younger, poorer and in worse health were more likely to live in places with high rates of bad sleep.”