OBJECTIVE: To analyze health related quality of life among people with sleeping problems from an epidemiological perspective. METHOD: A cross-sectional survey on a sample aged between 20-84 years in the county of Uppland, Sweden yielded a response in 5404 patients (68%). A recall period of two weeks was used for sleeping problems and use of sleeping medication. The SF-36, used to measure HRQoL, covers eight domains of health: physical function (PF); role limitation because of physical health (RP); bodily pain (BP); general health perception (GH); vitality (VT); social functioning (SF); role limitation because of emotional health problem (RE), and mental health (MH). Linear regression analysis was employed for the multivariate analyses. RESULTS: In all, 20.3% of the population reported sleeping problems. 16.0% had experienced sleeping problems but not used sleeping medication while 4.3% had used medication. The prevalence of sleeping problems was of the same magnitude between the ages 20-74 years (around 20%) but higher among those aged 75-84 years (29.5%). Sleeping problems were more prevalent among women (23.8%) than men (16.1%). The use of sleeping medication increased by age. Among persons aged 20-34 years, 1.0% had used sleeping medication and among those aged 75-84 years 16.1% did. Use of sleeping medication was more common among women (5.3%) compared to men (3.0%). Individuals with sleeping problems scored significantly lower (p <0.05) than those without sleeping problems on all of the eight domains in SF-36, RE -20.3, VT -19.3, MH -16.8, GH -16.2, SF -15.6, RP -15.1, BP -13.4 and PF -7.9. Among individuals with sleeping problems, those using sleeping medication scored lower on seven domains of the SF-36: RE -10.5, MH -10.4, SF -8.8, GH -8.1, BP -7.8, VT -6.1 and PF -5.8. CONCLUSION: Sleeping problems are common in the population and lead to a significantly decreased quality of life among affected individuals.