; findings (a) Short title This subtitle may be cited as the Sleep and Circadian Rhythm Disorders Health Disparities Act . (b) Findings The Congress finds the following: (1) Decrements in sleep health such as sleep apnea, insufficient sleep time, and insomnia, affect 50–70 million United States adults. Twelve to eighteen million United States adults have sleep apnea, a chronic disorder characterized by one or more pauses in breathing which can last from a few seconds to minutes. They may occur 30 times or more an hour, disrupting sleep and resulting in excessive daytime sleepiness and loss in productivity. (2) Seventy percent of high school students are not getting enough sleep on school nights, while 33 percent of Americans get fewer than 7 hours of sleep per night, and roughly 6,000 fatal motor vehicle crashes are caused by drowsy drivers. (3) Insufficient sleep and insomnia are more prevalent in women. Women who are pregnant and have sleep apnea are at an increased risk of cardiovascular complications during pregnancy. The impact of disparities in sleep health is associated with a growing number of health problems, including the following: (A) Hypertension. (B) Cancer. (C) Stroke. (D) Cardiac arrhythmia. (E) Chronic heart failure and heart disease. (F) Diabetes. (G) Cognitive functioning and behavior. (H) Depression and bipolar disorder. (I) Substance abuse. (4) A sleep disparity exists in that poor sleep quality is strongly associated with poverty and race. Factors such as employment, education, and health status, amongst others, significantly mediated this effect only in poor subjects, suggesting a differential vulnerability to these factors in poor relative to nonpoor individuals in the context of sleep quality. (5) African Americans sleep worse than Caucasian Americans. African Americans take longer to fall asleep, report poorer sleep quality, have more light and less deep sleep, and nap more often and longer. (6) African Americans and individuals in lower socioeconomic status groups may be at an increased