Sleep study says people don't get enough Z's

03/17/08The results of the latest National Sleep Foundation Survey released Mar. 3, revealed that, "about 10 percent of adults report not getting enough rest or sleep every day in the past month."

The survey was done by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) and included four states: Delaware, Hawaii, New York, and Rhode Island.

The study entitled "Perceived Insufficient Rest or Sleep--Four States, 2006," said, "Nationwide, an estimated 50 to 70 million people suffer from chronic sleep loss and sleep disorders."

According to the study, lack of sleep can be caused by health problems such as obesity, depression, and certain risk behaviors, including cigarette smoking, physical inactivity, and heavy drinking.

The study also said that other causes for insufficient rest are occupational factors like "busy schedules or shift work; irregular sleep schedules; or lifestyle factors such as heavy family demands, late-night television watching and Internet use, or the use of caffeine and alcohol, according to a 2006 Institute of Medicine report."

School is also a heavy factor in sleep loss. Lauren Robinson, a recent graduate of Suffolk College said, "I was burning the candle a lot more when I was in school compared to now."

Despite the fact that she holds down three jobs, she finds now that late night TV and the Internet keep her up at night.

But it's not only students who miss out on slumber. As Gregoire Turgeon, an English professor at UMass Lowell tells his students, "When I've handed back a set of papers, some of them are recipients of the 2 a.m. correcting jobs."

"Some of what I do (correcting student writing, programming, editorial stuff) suffers badly if interruptions interfere with paying attention," he said.

Turgeon said that when working at home, distractions aren't as frequent during the night, "so I sleep less than I otherwise might because I use everyone else's sleep time to try to be productive."

His wife, Susan Turgeon, a recently retired history teacher at Lowell High, said, "I might get an extra hour of sleep, now that I don't have to get up for school everyday."

Since retiring, she has worked as a substitute teacher. "I don't go to bed any earlier, but on the days I don't sub, I'm just not as tired. On the days I do sub, I come home just as exhausted as I was when I was teaching," she said.

Most adults require 7-9 hours of sleep per night, school children aged 5-12 years require 9-11 hours, and adolescents aged 11-17 years require 8.5-9.5 hours each night, The National Sleep Foundation reports.

One issue that might contribute to modern society's lack of sleep is the idea that, "lives aren't so compartmental anymore," said Robinson.

"Even 10 years ago, work was work, school was school and then there was your private life," she said.

The sleep study's lead author, Lela R. McKnight-Eily, Ph.D., said it was important to understand how sleep affects overall health in people and that more should be done, "to better understand the problem and to develop effective sleep interventions.