March
30, 2005: Another Useless Survey
By Ahchie
The
National Sleep Foundation
has released its 2005 Sleep in America poll. While 2003 focused on sleep and
aging, and 2004 focused on children, this year’s focus is on adults.
The report itself is 55 pages long. Fifty-five pages to tell us that, as Foundation
chief executive Richard Gelula puts it, “Half of the country sleeps
pretty well – the other half has problems.” While the survey is
extensive and there are lots of numbers presented, the problem is that the
survey is basically useless in that it tells us what we already instinctively
know.
The factor that makes most surveys useless, besides telling us what we already know, is the general rule that the same results can often be used to support both sides of an argument. The Sleep in America poll is no different in that the numbers themselves can be framed in such a way as to advance an argument that sleep in America is a problem or just as easily to say that sleep in America is normal and about what you would expect. In their article covering the survey, Reuters has taken the negative position, choosing to emphasize that many Americans are so sleepy that they have marriage problems, make mistakes at work, and go without sex. If something happens just once in a designated period, Reuters is willing to conclude that there is a major problem bubbling under the surface.
The Reuters article points out that almost 30% of employed adults missed work, made errors, or missed some activity due to sleep-related issues in the past three months. Digging deeper into the survey itself also shows that 22% of workers reported being late for work due to sleep issues, while another 32% reported being late due to issues other than sleep. Initially the numbers may appear high, but consider that sleeping in even a little on a Monday morning and being late to work one day would suddenly put you in the same category of people who seemingly sleep their way through their work day existence a la Homer Simpson behind the controls of a nuclear reactor. Almost half (46%) actually said they were never late or tardy to work.
Also presented in the Reuters article is that 60% of drivers admitted to having driven drowsy in the past year. While the initial reaction might be shock that there are so many sleepy drivers out there and you may be tempted to delve deeper into the results to find “disturbing” trends, it actually seems like this number is too low. Consider that the timeframe for the question is an entire year. It would make sense that in the course of a year, almost every driver will have driven at least one time while drowsy. When one thinks about it, how can anyone go an entire year and never experience being drowsy behind the wheel at least once?
The numbers cited in the Reuters article about why people are staying up later than they should are inadvertently deceiving upon initial review in that they don’t add up, stating that 87% of the 1,500 adults surveyed usually watched TV in the hour before going to bed, 47% usually had sex, and 64% read. That adds up to 198% and does not include any other activity. A further look into the survey reveals that each activity was based on whether or not it happened at least a few nights a week and the responses included other activities besides the three cited, such as showering, being on the internet, doing job-related work and exercising. While the Reuters story tries to emphasize that many Americans are going without sex due to sleep problems, it is interesting to find that almost half of the respondents are having sex in the hour before sleep at least several times a week. Without a doubt, the bottom line is that the last hour before going to bed is perhaps the most productive hour of the entire day.
Completely
ignored in the survey is the most time-consuming and most rapidly increasing
late night activity – xboxing. XBoxers enter a time warp where one hour
goes by for every ten minutes spent playing as soon as the “Press Start
to begin” shows on the screen. The BMTG has determined that the XBox
is the only known way to consistently keep their own resident sexologist and
renowned sleep expert, Throcksmorton, awake past eleven o’clock at night.
Whether you feel the sleep habits of America are good, bad, or just normal, the release of the survey results raises the ultimate question, which is: Why do we even have a National Sleep Foundation? Is it so that we can use things like their trademarked “Sleeptionary” to find out that the medical term for bedwetting is “nocturnal enuresis”? March 28 to April 3 is National Sleep Awareness Week. How much more aware of sleep do we need to be?
The best thing about the 55-page survey is that it can be used to advance the Foundation’s belief that Americans need to sleep more, for reading the actual survey is bound to put even the most die-hard insomniac to sleep.
Americans Too Sleepy for Sex, Poll
Finds
Reuters, March 29, 2005
WASHINGTON
- Many Americans are so sleepy that they are having problems in their marriages,
making mistakes at work and even going without sex, according to a report
released on Tuesday.
The poll by the National Sleep Foundation found that 75 percent of adults frequently have a symptom of a sleep problem such as frequent waking during the night or snoring. But few believe they have a sleep problem and most ignore it.
"Half of the country sleeps pretty well -- the other half has problems," Foundation chief executive Richard Gelula said in a statement.
What is to blame? The survey of more than 1,500 adults found that 87 percent usually watched TV in the hour before going to bed, 47 percent usually had sex and 64 percent read.
"Only about one-half of respondents are able to say on most nights, 'I had a good night's sleep'," the Foundation, which issues regular reports showing Americans do not get enough sleep, said in a statement.
Nearly a quarter of those in a marriage or relationship said they had sex less often or had lost interest in sex because they are too sleepy.
The Foundation recommends that adults get between seven and nine hours of sleep a night but the survey found that Americans get an average of 6.9 hours.
Of those surveyed, 60 percent of drivers admitted to having driven drowsy
in the past year and 4 percent said they had an accident or near-accident
because they were tired or dozing while driving.
Almost 30 percent of employed adults said they had missed work, made errors
or missed some activity because of sleep-related issues in the past three
months.
Most people -- 77 percent -- complained that their partner has a sleep-related problem, usually snoring.
"In my practice, I've found when couples are forced to sleep apart because of one partner's sleep problems, it often has a terrible effect on the relationship," said Dr. Meir Kryger, director of the Sleep Disorders Center at St. Boniface Hospital Research Center at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg and a director of the Foundation.
More than a third of people who described themselves as poor sleepers said their intimate relationships were affected because they are too sleepy, compared to 8 percent of good sleepers.