We all know that sleep can be hard to come by, but it's especially true in rural Kentucky.

According to a new report, researchers at the University of Kentucky, in partnership with the University of Miami and the University of Arizona, studied the sleep habits of hundreds of people in 12 rural Kentucky counties.

What they discovered a significantly high number of adults suffering from sleep disorders.

More about this important topic in today's medical news, where we hear what they say is behind the sleep loss.

Sleep deficiencies is an umbrella term that encompasses both sleep dysfunction as well as validated sleep disorders.

We are specifically interested in three.

We're interested in insufficient sleep, defined as seven or few hours per night.

We're interested in insomnia, which is typically defined as difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, or early morning awakening, or some fun combination thereof.

And then the third thing that we're really interested in is obstructive sleep apnea risk, whereby people stop breathing for periods, during their sleep during the night.

But we found 64.9% of our participants versus 10% nationally, are suffering clinically significant levels of insomnia severity.

And, I would add to that the obstructive sleep apnea risk in this population is 51.3% versus about 38% nationally.

And finally, in relation to insufficient sleep, what we found was that about 45% suffered from insufficient sleep versus 35% nationally.

And it was different risk factors for different groups.

So with insomnia, female sex is highly correlated with the insomnia.

In terms of obstructive sleep apnea, it was actually men.

Male sex is more associated with obstructive sleep apnea.

There is a very strong socioeconomic gradient, particularly when it comes to insomnia.

So the more money folks make, the less likely they are to suffer from insomnia.

And conversely, if people make in particular in this sample, less than $20,000 a year, their rates of insomnia are about 80%, which is extremely high.

Now, we don't think it's just the income per se.

It's the stressors that come along with that the economic insecurity, the inability to afford basic needs, the inability to seek healthcare if needed.

There are also very high rates of trauma in the area, and that has only gone up since the flooding events that have occurred in recent years.

We've talked to a lot of folks who sleep was okay, part of the flooding event and then has was disrupted at that time and has never fully come back.

I would add to that the, lack of economic opportunities in the region and housing, shortage or housing insecurity or other stressors.

We also saw, an impact of other mental health conditions on, you know, the prevalence of, of, sleep disorder.

So, depression, depression and anxiety in particular were highly correlated with, with, all of these, sleep related, problems.

So, they kind of like, go hand in hand.

And which is also important to, to consider in, in the population, not only from an intervention standpoint, but kind of explaining, kind of the intricacies of, of this, various factors in, in, leading to, to what we are seeing in terms of sleep outcomes.

What we would love to offer to folks with these issues in eastern Kentucky would be digital forms of cognitive behavioral therapy for sleep, whereby they relearn these sleep beliefs and sleep behaviors.

They learn to shut off their brains and to create better sleep habits.

We actually had, very good acceptance, of the intervention with our pilot.

And it's also because it doesn't carry any stigma.

They can do it on their in their own home.

It's kind of like self empowering.

They are taking control of, you know, their, their sleep.

So it's, it's not I think the feedback we received from participants in that pilot was very positive.

And we saw positive effects on several outcomes.

With regard to sleep, with regard to mental health, with regards to the use of medications, sleep aids in particular.

Even though that pilot was for a very limited period of time, we were able to see and the feedback we received at the end of the intervention was very positive.

There was a, a great acceptability of such, such an intervention.

The researchers say they found people who lived alone were far more likely to suffer from insomnia.

But they say that's tied to more to a lack of social support.