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By: Sharon
I got this article via my RSS feeds. It is from Reuters and was posted at MSNBC -
WASHINGTON - With late-night TV watching, Internet surfing and other distractions, Americans are getting less and less sleep, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday.
And all this sleeplessness can be a nightmare for your mental and physical health, CDC experts cautioned, calling sleep loss an under-recognized public health problem.
Sleep experts say chronic sleep loss is associated with obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, cardiovascular disease, depression, cigarette smoking and excessive drinking.
And all this sleeplessness can be a nightmare for your mental and physical health, CDC experts cautioned, calling sleep loss an under-recognized public health problem.
Sleep experts say chronic sleep loss is associated with obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, cardiovascular disease, depression, cigarette smoking and excessive drinking.
The CDC surveyed 19,589 adults in four states. Ten percent reported they did not get enough sleep or rest every single day of the prior month, and 38 percent said they did not get enough in seven or more days in the prior month.
The CDC survey was conducted in New York, Hawaii, Delaware and Rhode Island, asking people how many days in the prior month they got insufficient rest or sleep, without asking specifically how many hours they slept.
But the CDC released nationwide data collected separately showing that across all age groups, the percentage of adults reporting sleeping six hours or fewer a night increased from 1985 to 2006.
The National Sleep Foundation recommends adults get seven to nine hours of sleep a night. Children ages 5 to 12 should get nine to 11 hours and those 11 to 17 need 8-1/2 to 9-1/2 hours. (more of the article located at the link above)
The CDC survey was conducted in New York, Hawaii, Delaware and Rhode Island, asking people how many days in the prior month they got insufficient rest or sleep, without asking specifically how many hours they slept.
But the CDC released nationwide data collected separately showing that across all age groups, the percentage of adults reporting sleeping six hours or fewer a night increased from 1985 to 2006.
The National Sleep Foundation recommends adults get seven to nine hours of sleep a night. Children ages 5 to 12 should get nine to 11 hours and those 11 to 17 need 8-1/2 to 9-1/2 hours. (more of the article located at the link above)
**So, no judgement here, as it is 12:01am and I am no where near going to bed yet. In fact at 10:40pm I went to ask my mom something and couldn't believe that not only was she asleep but our house guest was asleep as well. Clearly I know which group I fall into; how about you?
**The bigger questions are: Do we buy it? And do we care?
Personally, I have found with three young children, it's not about the the number of hours of sleep, it's about the number of uninterrupted hours of sleep.
Have a great night's sleep (for however long you sleep)!!
1 comment:
I need my sleep.
If I don't get 7-8 hours of sleep (8 preferably), then I fall asleep while teaching Rachel after lunch every day.
Sleep deprivation is a terrible, terrible thing to endure.
I'd love to sleep late every day, but the one year old wakes me at 6am each morning. So I force myself to get to sleep by 10pm at night. (That's an exaggeration. I can't keep my eyes open past 10 or 9:30!) Kevin is the complete opposite - he stays up an hour or two after I've gone to sleep. Of course, that's because he has the remote in his hand!!
And as I am typing all this lovely stuff about getting lots of sleep, that same one year old begins crying in the background. I should have kept my mouth shut!!!
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