NEW YORK — If you’re feeling — yawn — sleepy or tired as you read this and wish you could get some more sleep, you’re not alone. Most Americans say they would feel better if they could sleep more, according to a new survey.
But in the US, the spirit of striving and developing on your own is omnipresent, both in the country’s beginnings and in our current environment of technology and always-on work hours. And getting enough sleep can feel like a dream.
O Gallup Poll, released on Monday, found that 57% of Americans say they would feel better if they could sleep more, while just 42% say they get as much sleep as they need. This is the first time in Gallup polls since 2001; In 2013, when Americans were last asked, it was practically the opposite: 56% said they got enough sleep and 43% said they didn’t.
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Younger women, under age 50, were especially likely to report not getting enough rest.
The survey also asked respondents to report how many hours of sleep they usually get per night: only 26% said they slept eight or more hours, which is around the amount which sleep experts say is recommended for mental health and well-being. Just over half, 53%, reported sleeping six to seven hours. And 20% said they slept five hours or less, a jump from the 14% who reported getting less sleep in 2013.
(And just to make you feel even more tired, in 1942, the vast majority of Americans slept more. About 59% said they slept eight or more hours, while 33% said they slept six to seven hours. What Is that? )
The reasons are not exactly clear
The poll does not explain the reasons Americans don’t get the sleep they need, and since Gallup last asked the question in 2013, there is no data describing the specific impact of the past four years and the pandemic era.
But what’s notable, says Gallup senior researcher Sarah Fioroni, is the shift over the past decade toward more Americans thinking they would benefit from more sleep, and particularly the rise in the number who say they get five or fewer hours of sleep.
“This category of five hours or less… was almost unheard of in 1942,” Fioroni said. “Almost no one said they slept five hours or less.”
In modern American life, there has also been “this widespread belief about how unnecessary sleep was — that it was this period of inactivity where little or nothing happened and that it took up time that could have been better spent,” said Joseph Dzierzewski, deputy vice president. president of research and scientific affairs at the National Sleep Foundation.
It’s only been relatively recently that the importance of sleep for physical, mental and emotional health has started to become more widespread in the general population, he said.
See more information: Sleeping well can keep your heart healthy
And there is still a long way to go. For some Americans, like Justine Broughal, 31, a self-employed event planner with two young children, there simply aren’t enough hours in the day. Therefore, although she recognizes the importance of sleep, it often falls below other priorities, such as her 4-month-old son, who still wakes up during the night, or her 3-year-old daughter.
“I really appreciate being able to spend time with (my kids),” Broughal says. “Part of the advantage of working for myself is that I have a more flexible schedule, but this often comes at the expense of my own care.”
There’s a cultural backdrop to all this too
So why are we awake all the time? One likely reason for Americans’ insomnia is cultural — a long-standing emphasis on industriousness and productivity.
Some of the context is much older than the change documented in the research. It includes Protestants from the European countries that colonized the country, said Claude Fischer, a professor of sociology at the University of California at Berkeley graduate school. Their belief system included the idea that working hard and being rewarded with success was evidence of divine favor.
“It’s been a central part of American culture for centuries,” he said. “You could argue that… in secularized form over the centuries, it becomes just a general principle that the morally upright person is someone who doesn’t waste their time.”
Jennifer Sherman saw this in action. In her research into rural American communities over the years, the Washington State University sociology professor says a common theme among the people she interviewed was the importance of having a strong work ethic. This applied not only to paid work but also to unpaid work, such as making sure the house was clean.
A throughline of American cultural mythology is the idea of being “individually responsible for creating our own destinies,” she said. “And it suggests that if you are wasting too much of your time… that you are responsible for your own failure.”
“The other side of the coin is a huge disdain for people who are considered lazy,” she added.
Broughal says she believes that, as parents, her generation is capable of letting go of some of these expectations. “I prioritize… spending time with my kids over keeping my house spotless,” she said.
But with two young children to care for, she said, making peace with a messier home doesn’t mean more time to rest: “We’re spending time with the family until, you know, (my 3-year-old son) goes to bed at eight and then we’ll clean the house, okay?”
The benefits of sleeping more
Although research shows only broad change over the past decade, living the COVID-19 pandemic may have affected people’s sleeping patterns. Also discussed in post-COVID life is “revenge of bedtime procrastination”, where people put off sleep and instead browse social media or binge-watch a show as a way of trying to deal with stress.
Liz Meshel is familiar with this. The 30-year-old American is temporarily living in Bulgaria on a research grant, but also works part-time American hours to make ends meet.
On nights when his work hours run until 10 p.m., Meshel finds himself in a cycle of “revenge procrastination.” She wants time to decompress before bed and ends up sacrificing hours of sleep to make that happen.
“This also applies to bedtime, where I’m like, ‘Well, I didn’t have time for myself during the day and now it’s 10 p.m., so I’m going to feel totally fine and justified watching X number of TV episodes, spending so much time on Instagram, as a way to decompress,” she said. “Which will obviously always make the problem worse.”
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Sanders reported from Washington, D.C.
This story originally appeared on Time.com read the full story
