This paper focuses on sleep and health deprivation of single mothers in Japan. Our statistical analysis demonstrates that some of the health consequences of single mothers’ constrained choice. Compared to married mothers, single mothers are not able to reduce their working hours even when they are ill, or when they need to meet family obligations. Conversely, longer work hours correlate negatively with single mothers’ health, while no such effect is found for married mothers. Being a single mother in Japan means not having the luxury of making a choice to optimize her own well-being when circumstances call for adaptation
