Sleep has become a mainstream wellness topic, with 53% of people ranking it as the most important behavior for a long and healthy life. However, despite this awareness, only 23% of respondents in a 2026 Resmed survey had sought professional help for sleep problems.
Why So Many People Normalize Poor Sleep
Sleep often becomes the first sacrifice when work runs late or family demands take over the evening. Many people treat rest as a luxury, believing extra waking hours offer more value than time spent asleep. However, this belief makes exhaustion easier to excuse the next morning, especially when a busy schedule appears to be the obvious cause.
Sleep experts also warn that loud snoring and poor concentration are frequently blamed on stress or age, allowing them to continue unaddressed. After months or years of the same routine, waking up tired can begin to feel ordinary, even when the poor sleep behind it has never been explained.
The Cost of Ignoring Sleep Problems
Ignoring ongoing sleep problems carries a cost that often manifests long before the cause is recognized. The CDC notes that staying awake for 17 hours impairs performance about as much as a blood alcohol concentration of 0.05%, making focus and reaction times noticeably slower during everyday tasks.
Stanford Medicine’s Dr. Andrea Goldstein-Piekarski says sleep and mood are closely connected, helping explain why chronic sleep disruption so often overlaps with anxiety and depression. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine also links sleep deprivation to high blood pressure, heart disease, and lasting changes in brain function as the years pass.
Furthermore, poor sleep costs the U.S. economy an estimated $428 billion to $867 billion in lost productivity each year, according to WorldHealth.net.
Access to Care
Recognizing a possible sleep problem still leaves many people unsure of how to proceed. A 2025 American Academy of Sleep Medicine survey found that 45% of adults had never discussed sleep with a healthcare professional, meaning many concerns never lead to a clinical referral.
Access to care can be limited, particularly in communities with few sleep specialists. Sleep epidemiologist Dayna Johnson has reported that some patients face wait times of several months before they can even be seen by a provider.
However, sleep care has evolved, with the American Academy of Sleep Medicine now recognizing home sleep apnea testing as an option for certain adults with symptoms. Telehealth has also made it easier for patients to access sleep care, allowing consultations and follow-up visits to occur remotely rather than requiring a trip to a specialist.
Original reporting: Texarkana Gazette — read the source article.
