CDC: 28% U.S. adults don't get enough sleep 50% of time or more

William Atkins
Saturday, 31 October 2009 22:12

Science - Health

The amount of sleep varied by state and region within the United States.

Some of their findings are:

•    People living in southeastern states of the United States reported the highest percentage of not getting enough sleep.

•    People in West Virginia reported the highest percentage of insufficient sleep for the entire month—at 19.3%

•    People in the states of Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Missouri, and Oklahoma also reported high percentages of not getting sufficient sleep each night—at 13.1% or higher.

•    People in North Dakota had the lowest percentage of people reporting not getting enough sleep—at 7.4%.

•    People in the states of California, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Colorado, Nebraska, and Michigan also reported low percentages of not getting sufficient sleep—at 9.7% or less.

The researchers did not try to reach direct conclusions as to why people in some states had higher sleeplessness than people in other states.

However, they did try to gather plausible reasons why some people slept less than others.

They stated some factors could be: unemployment; excessive number of work hours; personal stress such as divorce, death in family, separation, etc.; poor sleep habits; or physical problems (such as obesity) or mental ailments (such as depression) that make it difficult to sleep.

Reasons why some states have higher sleeplessness than other states could be explained by the type of shift-work (for example, working third shifts more frequently) or shifts of work that lasted longer than normal.

The researchers also reported that people with the least amount of education (not a high school degree) reported fewer nights of not sleeping when compared to people with more education (high school degree).

And, high-school degreed people reported fewer nights of not sleeping than people with more education (some college or college degree).

The report stated, “Those with less than a high school diploma or general education development certificate (GED) (37.9%) also were more likely to report no days of insufficient rest or sleep in comparison with those with a high school diploma or GED (33.8%) or with some college or college degree (28.0%).”