Feeling tired? You’re not alone. According to two new studies, the economy and our wired lifestyles are getting in our way of a quality "40 winks."
More than half (60 percent) of us experience some sort of sleep problem every night and are searching for a way to cope, while two-thirds of us say the sleep we are getting is not restful. That’s a lot of yawning during the workday.
The 2011 Sleep in America® poll released March 7, 2011 by the National Sleep Foundation (NSF) examined Americans’ sleep habits and found we are pervasive users of communications technology in the hour before bed.
Almost everyone surveyed (95 percent) reported using some type of electronic device—television, computer, video game or cell phone— at least a few nights a week before bed. The survey showed generational differences in the devices used.
Two-thirds of baby boomers (46-64-year-olds) and generation Z'ers (13-18-year-olds) said they watch television every night or almost every night within the hour before going to sleep, while about half of generation X'ers (30-45-year-olds) and generation Y'ers (19-29-year-olds) report getting drowsy watching TV.
Computer or laptop use is also common. Six in 10 (61 percent) say they use their laptops or computers at least a few nights a week within the hour before bed. More than half of generation Z'ers (55 percent) and slightly less generation Y'ers (47 percent) say they surf the Internet every night before bed.
"Artificial light exposure between dusk and the time we go to bed at night suppresses release of the sleep-promoting hormone melatonin, enhances alertness and shifts circadian rhythms to a later hour—making it more difficult to fall asleep,” said Charles Czeisler, Ph.D., M.D., Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital.
This study reveals that light-emitting screens are in heavy use within the pivotal hour before sleep. Invasion of such alerting technologies into the bedroom may contribute to the high proportion of respondents who reported that they routinely get less sleep than they need, he said.
Previous studies have shown that disruption in the natural light and dark circadian rhythms have been linked to serious health conditions, including breast cancer and endometrial cancer development, increased risk of infectious diseases and autoimmune diseases, like Crohn's Disease, lupus, multiple sclerosis and type 1 diabetes.
"Over the last 50 years, we've seen how television viewing has grown to be a near constant before bed, and now we are seeing new information technologies such as laptops, cell phones, video games and music devices rapidly gaining the same status," said Lauren Hale, PhD, Stony Brook University Medical Center. “The higher use of these potentially more sleep-disruptive technologies among younger generations may have serious consequences for physical health, cognitive development and other measures of well-being.”
For anyone with a teenager, it’s no surprise that about in one in ten of generation Z'ers (9 percent) say that they are awakened after they go to bed every night or almost every night by a cell phone call, text message or email. More than half of generation Z'ers (56 percent) and nearly half of generation Y'ers (42 percent) said they send, read or receive text messages every night or almost every night in the hour before bed compared to 15 percent of Gen X'ers and 5 percent of baby boomers.
Your job –or lack of one— is also likely affecting your sleep according to a new longitudinal study by UK researchers.
Researchers discovered those who are unemployed are more than 40 percent more likely to report difficulty staying asleep than those in a job (having controlled for age and gender differences).
For the employed, job satisfaction also affects the quality of sleep, with 33 percent of the most dissatisfied employees reporting poor sleep quality compared to only 18 percent of the most satisfied.
Sara Arber, Ph.D., of the University of Surrey, analyzed the findings. She said “Given the links between sleep, social and economic circumstances and poor health found in this and other surveys, health promotion campaigns should be open to the possibility that the increased incidence of sleep problems among the disadvantaged in society may be one factor leading to their poorer health.”
Lynette Summerill is an award-winning writer who lives in Scottsdale, Arizona. In addition to writing about cancer-related issues for EmpowHER, she pens Nonsmoking Nation, a blog following global tobacco news and events.