Palo Alto, Calif.—January 20, 2015—SleepRate, a company that helps people sleep better to improve their quality of life, today released the results of a new survey, which found 88% of Americans with Internet access turn to the web and other sources to get more information about a particular problem before visiting a healthcare professional. Overall, 96% expressed an interest in their health, including learning more about how to maintain healthy lifestyles; meanwhile, only 4% report caring about their health when sick or injured. Survey respondents also seemed to be in tune with the state of their health with 69% giving themselves an A or B in keeping up with all the latest information that can help them maintain healthy and fit lifestyles. Information pertaining to cooking and nutrition was an area respondents reported being most interested in, with fitness and exercise (#2), healthy aging (#3), sleep (#4), and mental health (#5) also ranking high.
“What our survey shows is that most people care about their health enough to learn more about healthy living and their own personal health outside of what is provided by a healthcare professional,” said SleepRate CEO Uli Gal-Oz. “We were most heartened to see people listing sleep among their key health concerns, which suggests people are more aware of how proper sleep factors into their overall health than we previously thought.”
A 2011 study seen in the European Heart Journal found that sleeping less than six hours per night leads to a 48% greater chance of developing or dying from heart disease. Another 2010 study published in the Annals of Epidemiology journal found people who sleep less than six hours per night are three times more likely to develop incident-impaired fasting glycaemia (IFG).
When it comes to learning more about a specific health issue, 43% admit some concern that they might use information from the web to misdiagnose themselves when sick or injured. Still, 88% report still seeing a doctor at least once a year for professional opinions and care.
“While the web and, increasingly, health-related apps and wearables are available for both general information and personalized monitoring, they’re not preventing people from seeing their primary care physicians when there are concerns,” Mr. Gal-Oz added. “If anything, they seem to be keeping people more in tune with their bodily health and more informed about healthier lifestyles.”
While most visit WebMD, Healthline, search engines and other sites to get more health-related information, a large majority also report turning to healthcare providers as well as family and friends for additional guidance. Most (37%) turn to the web as well as their doctors, family and friends for information about a specific problem, though 25% report wanting to know more about healthy living in general.
SleepRate also found that 65% are interested in understanding their bodies and habits for healthier living, which is driving adoption of fitness, sleep, health and other health-related apps and wearables to nearly a quarter of those surveyed. Another 29% say they are open to trying such apps and devices for more personalized health information with many requiring that they’re accurate, affordable, and easy to use.
325 US residents (18 years-old or older) participated in the SleepRate Health Awareness Survey, conducted online during the month of December, 2014.