Most Americans are sleep deprived

Americans sleep less than six hours and drink lots of coffee to stay awake during the day.

25 February, 2008

Many adults in the United States sleep less than what is needed at night and drink caffeine in excess during the day to keep themselves awake. The result: they feel sleepy and tired all the time.

Of those questioned in a recent survey released by the United States Centers for Disease Control (CDC), 70% said that they have not had sufficient rest or sleep every day of the past month.

The study that surveyed adults in Delaware, Hawaii, New York and Rhode Island found that a shortage of sleep is particularly rampant and severe in younger adults. Those aged between 18 and 34 (13.3%) did not get adequate sleep every day compared to adults aged above 55 (7.3%). However, the study did not find much difference between races or genders.

According to the United States National Sleep Foundation, most adults need 7-9 hours of sleep each night, but many are not getting that much sleep. The Sleep Foundation recommends 9 to 11 hours of sleep a night for children aged 5 to 12, and 8.5 to 9.5 hours of sleep for kids aged 11 to 17.

Nationwide, adults in America who got an average of 6 hours or less of sleep a night increased in all age groups from 1985 to 2006, according to a National Health Interview Study. In 1985, about 20% of men and women aged 45 to 64 reported sleeping an average of 6 hours or less, but by 2006, that number rose to 30%.

The Centers for Disease Control says that about 50 million to 70 million people suffer from “constant sleep loss or sleep disorders.” Worse, people often do not know that lack of sufficient sleep causes health problems.

The happy side is that those who have retired from active service are getting enough sleep. The CDC survey showed that “those who are no longer working were twice as likely to report that they got a full night’s sleep.”

The study also brought to light the fact that patterns of sleep can be influenced by the kinds of jobs people have, and even where they live: those living in Hawaii apparently got more sleep than their counterparts in the other three US states studied. Lifestyle factors like late-night watching of television, use of internet, or consumption of caffeine and other stimulant can also affect sleep patterns.

Chronic sleep loss, according to experts on sleep, is linked to obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, cardiovascular disease, depression, cigarette-smoking, and excessive drinking.

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