Deprivaiton
According to "Sleep in America" poll conducted by the National Sleep Foundation (NSF), nearly two-thirds of Americans experience sleep problems at least a few times a week and 44 percent experience nightly difficulties. Here's how the day progresses for Mr. or Ms. Average Worker:
The alarm sounds at 5:35 a.m. and at 7:45 Average begins the 23-minute commute to work. Like 33 percent of Americans, Average puts in a 10-hour day. After commuting home, Average workds another hour (or two, or three) before hitting the sack at 10:35. Depsite being one of the 10 percent of Amiercan who take sleep aids(8 percent use alcohol), Average wakes up several times a night and faces the morning feelings unrefreshed(as do 49 percent of us).
To cope, Average joins the 58 percet of Americans who gulp caffeine, the 38 percent who gobble unhealthy snacks, or the 5 percent who take medication to make them more alert. Or like 84 percent of Americans, Average may just suck it up and keep going.
What impact does sleep deprivation have on people? If they're like those surveyed, in the past month:
- 40 percent have been irritable or impatient with others.
- 36 percent have fallen asleep driving to or from work.
- 29 percent have fallen asleep or become very sleepy during work.
- 27 percent have had difficulty concentrating at work.
- 23 percent have been late to work
- 20 percent have been less productive than they expected.
- 14 percent have missed family, work, or leisure activities.
"With Americans working such long hours--on top of their other responsibilities like childcare and household maintenance--something has to give. Unfortunately, that something is usually nighttime sleep," say NSF CEO Darrel Drobnich. And the consequences cna be severe and perpetual, say Thomas J. Balkin, cochair of the poll task force and NSF vice chair. "Studies show that habitually getting inadequate sleep--less that seven or eight hours of sleep each night--creates long-lasting changes to one's ability to think and function well during the day. There negative effects can accrue slowly over weeks, months, and even years of inadequate sleep habits and cannot simply be reversed by a few nights of good sleep"
--Adapted from "Longer work days leave Americans nodding off on the job," on the National Sleep Foundation Web site.
