Holidays
How Christmas Eve Affects Sleep
On Christmas Eve 2025, people worldwide woke up 5% more often, went to bed 9 minutes later and got up 40 minutes later than on a typical Wednesday night.
Late-night wrapping, travel and excited children make Christmas Eve one of the year's most unusual nights. We compared it with the same weekday in the weeks around it, outside the holiday season.
Watch the wake-up time: Christmas morning is one of the few days many households get up early on purpose.
Updated daily · data to Nov 1, 2026 · How we measure
Sleep vs normal
−1 min
6h 30m vs 6h 31m
Wake-ups vs normal
+5%
4.3 vs 4.1 per night
Bedtime
10:27pm
+9 min vs usual 10:18pm
Under 6 hours of sleep
35%
+2 pts vs usual 33%
What the data shows
- People worldwide slept an average of 6h 30m, compared with 6h 31m on a typical Wednesday night.
- 26% fell asleep after midnight, compared with 19% normally.
- The next morning, people got up at 8:59am on average, 40 minutes later than usual.
- 35% of sleepers got less than six hours, against 33% on a normal Wednesday.
- Brits were hit hardest, losing 7 minutes of sleep.
Sleep in the nights around Christmas Eve 2025
Worldwide · dashed line is a typical Wednesday
- Sleep
- Typical Wednesday
Source: Sleepiest sleep data · to Nov 1, 2026
| Night | Sleep | Wake-ups | Bedtime |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 17, 2025 | 6h 28m | 4.01 | 10:18pm |
| Dec 18, 2025 | 6h 27m | 3.90 | 10:19pm |
| Dec 19, 2025 | 6h 40m | 4.06 | 10:31pm |
| Dec 20, 2025 | 6h 47m | 4.05 | 10:29pm |
| Dec 21, 2025 | 6h 33m | 3.95 | 10:25pm |
| Dec 22, 2025 | 6h 30m | 4.00 | 10:24pm |
| Dec 23, 2025 | 6h 33m | 4.03 | 10:29pm |
| Dec 24, 2025 | 6h 30m | 4.25 | 10:27pm |
| Dec 25, 2025 | 6h 47m | 4.21 | 10:23pm |
| Dec 26, 2025 | 6h 43m | 4.16 | 10:29pm |
| Dec 27, 2025 | 6h 43m | 4.09 | 10:32pm |
| Dec 28, 2025 | 6h 33m | 4.11 | 10:27pm |
| Dec 29, 2025 | 6h 35m | 4.01 | 10:29pm |
| Dec 30, 2025 | 6h 35m | 4.04 | 10:27pm |
| Dec 31, 2025 | 6h 20m | 4.38 | 10:41pm |
Wake-ups in the nights around Christmas Eve 2025
Worldwide · average times sleep was broken per night
- Wake-ups
- Typical Wednesday
Source: Sleepiest sleep data · to Nov 1, 2026
| Night | Wake-ups |
|---|---|
| Dec 17, 2025 | 4.01 |
| Dec 18, 2025 | 3.90 |
| Dec 19, 2025 | 4.06 |
| Dec 20, 2025 | 4.05 |
| Dec 21, 2025 | 3.95 |
| Dec 22, 2025 | 4.00 |
| Dec 23, 2025 | 4.03 |
| Dec 24, 2025 | 4.25 |
| Dec 25, 2025 | 4.21 |
| Dec 26, 2025 | 4.16 |
| Dec 27, 2025 | 4.09 |
| Dec 28, 2025 | 4.11 |
| Dec 29, 2025 | 4.01 |
| Dec 30, 2025 | 4.04 |
| Dec 31, 2025 | 4.38 |
Sleep vs normal on Christmas Eve 2025, by country
Minutes of sleep compared with a typical night
Source: Sleepiest sleep data · to Nov 1, 2026
| Region | Sleep | vs normal | Wake-ups vs normal | Bedtime | Bedtime vs normal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Worldwide | 6h 30m | −1 min | +5% | 10:27pm | +9 min |
| United States | 6h 28m | +1 min | +3% | 10:27pm | +14 min |
| United Kingdom | 6h 34m | −7 min | +6% | 10:34pm | +11 min |
Upcoming dates
- Christmas Eve 2026Thursday, December 24, 2026
- Christmas Eve 2027Friday, December 24, 2027
Frequently asked questions
Do people sleep less on Christmas Eve?
The figures above compare Christmas Eve with a typical night on the same weekday outside the holidays, including total sleep, wake-ups, bedtime and the time people got up.
How do you get kids to sleep on Christmas Eve?
Keep the usual bedtime routine, dim the lights an hour before bed, and use a calm story or sleep sound rather than screens. Excitement is normal, so aim for a relaxed wind-down rather than a perfect night.
More sleep data
See how your own sleep compares
Sleepiest tracks your sleep automatically, no wearable needed, and helps you drift off with bedtime stories, meditations and sounds.
Figures are anonymised averages from Sleepiest app users who track their sleep, not a representative sample of the population. Nights are compared with the same weekday in the surrounding weeks. Groups with too few sleepers are never shown. Methodology