Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by Fnord666 on Wednesday November 13 2019, @11:35AM   Printer-friendly
from the one-sheep-two-sheep-red-sheep-blue-sheep dept.

Submitted via IRC for Bytram

More Americans struggle to fall asleep, stay asleep

Getting the recommended seven to eight hours of sleep every night is a struggle for most people, but even those who do may not have the best sleep.

New research from Iowa State University finds more Americans have trouble falling asleep and staying asleep. The changes were independent of sleep duration, and difficulties were most prevalent in people with healthy sleep length, the findings show. The study, published in the journal Sleep Health, is one of the first to look at how multiple dimensions of sleep health change over time.

Zlatan Krizan, professor of psychology, and his research team analyzed data collected from nearly 165,000 individuals from 2013 to 2017, as part of the National Health Interview Survey. Over the course of five years, adults who reported at least one day a week with difficulty falling asleep increased by 1.43% and those reporting at least one day with trouble staying asleep increased by 2.70%. While the percentages may seem small, Krizan says based on 2018 population estimates this means as many as five million more Americans are experiencing some sleep difficulties.

"Indeed, how long we sleep is important, but how well we sleep and how we feel about our sleep is important in its own right," Krizan said. "Sleep health is a multidimensional phenomenon, so examining all the aspects of sleep is crucial for future research."

Garrett C. Hisler, Diana Muranovic, Zlatan Krizan. Changes in sleep difficulties among the U.S. population from 2013 to 2017: results from the National Health Interview Survey. Sleep Health, 2019; DOI: 10.1016/j.sleh.2019.08.008


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 2) by esperto123 on Wednesday November 13 2019, @02:19PM (6 children)

    by esperto123 (4303) on Wednesday November 13 2019, @02:19PM (#919840)

    Not everyone can do that, specially if you consider places were leaving home just a few minutes late can cause you to arrive late by 20, 30 min or even one hour.
    I'd say that it is better for people to try to schedule their sleep in order to wake up by themselves just before the alarm, i.e., try to know your own sleep patterns and how long do you need to sleep to wake by yourself and work backwards to know the time to go to bed.

    But even then there people that still will not be able to do it, for example if you have really small children.

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   2  
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 13 2019, @04:14PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 13 2019, @04:14PM (#919888)

    Well that is up to their own life decisions. If good sleep is important you will prioritize that over the other stuff.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 13 2019, @05:23PM (4 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 13 2019, @05:23PM (#919923)

    So, go the fuck to sleep earlier.

    • (Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Wednesday November 13 2019, @07:20PM (1 child)

      by bzipitidoo (4388) on Wednesday November 13 2019, @07:20PM (#919971) Journal

      If only that was so easy. Stop trying to cram the day with several more things that just have to be done before going to bed. I'd go as far as getting rid of artificial lighting. But if you have family, and they won't give up their late hour habits, what can you do?

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 14 2019, @05:22AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 14 2019, @05:22AM (#920213)

        No, it really is that easy.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 13 2019, @07:27PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 13 2019, @07:27PM (#919972)

      I used to work 12 hour shifts at a mine, between that and the 1.25h of commute back and forth you're pounding out a 16 hour day. Between regular and special stressors and demand for constant vigilance there you were spun the fuck out, and it was easy to miss sleep. I was one of the most hygienic sleepers out there and I still probably only averaged 6. And there's also schedules like the DuPont where you do baffling shit throughout the month to catastrophic ends so the company can skate out of what should be 8 hours of OT every week. Hell week for example, is a day to night swing with "one" day off - which is more or less sleeping for a day and a half if you're lucky.

      So no, it's not so simple as you might think, genius.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 13 2019, @07:52PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 13 2019, @07:52PM (#919979)

        That is your choice. Get a different job if you care so much about sleep.