Sleep Routines and Tiredness in US Children

Do you work or interact with children? Do you any of them complain of being tired? If so, you may be interested in a recently-published data brief by the National Center for Health Statistics. 

Black, Ng, and Adjaye-Gbewonyo (2026), using data from the 2024 National Health Interview Survey, reported that 85.6 percent of children aged 2-17 years had a regular bedtime routine on most days or every day. Around eight percent of children “complained of being tired during the day” on most days or every day. 

These authors also examined bedtime routines and daytime tiredness as a function of sex, age, disability status, family income, family type (i.e., married or cohabitating, single, or other parental type) and race and Hispanic origin. From that, audiologist may be interested in knowing that children categorized as “without disability” were more likely to have a regular bedtime routine than those “with disability” (86.4 percent versus 79.6 percent). They also reported less complaints of being tired (6.3 percent versus 22 percent). Disability status was determined by the reported level of difficulty in 13 core domains of function. Hearing and communication were listed separately as two of those 13 core domains.

Reference

Black LI, Ng AE, Adjaye-Gbewonyo D. (2026, March). Sleep routines and tiredness among children ages 2–17 years: United States, 2024. NCHS Data Brief. (551):1─11.