Not Getting Enough Sleep? People Sleep Less Than They Think

We usually complain about the fact that we do not get enough sleep and also about the fact that we over-work in order to earn more money, but a few people have really thought about the fact that we may think more than we even sleep.

This is the reason why Diane S. Lauderdale, PhD from the University of Chicago and a team of other researchers have carried out a study on the time spent by an individual to sleep, to work and to sleep.

The team put sensitive movement detectors around the wrists of women that volunteered for the study, aged between 38 and 50. But the main objective of the study has not been to see for how much time does one sleep or work, but to monitor the developing of heart diseases in the subjects.

The experts analyzed then for how long did women sleep, how much time they spent in bed after awakening, how much time took them to really get to sleep after laying themselves in the bed etc. The research was based not only on the signals transmitted by the detector bracelets, but also on the detailed logs kept by every woman that participated in the study.

The results proved not only the fact that most of us spend more time working or on other activities that require brain activity than really sleeping, but also the amazing fact that white women sleep more than the black ones.

White women proved to sleep an average period of 6 hours and 42 minutes every night, got asleep in about 13 minutes, spent on the whole around 8 hours in bed and also had the best night's sleep.

Black women showed that they sleep with an hour and a half less than the white women, as they slept for 5 hours and 6 minutes every night, it took them 36 minutes to get asleep, spent an overall of 7 hours in bed and had the most inefficient and less restful sleep.

At the same time, when measuring the sleeping hours as related to the professional life, such as income and employment, the researchers found out that rich people sleep the most, while poor people sleep the least: "People who make more money may have fewer worries, or they may have more control over their sleep environment," Dr. Lauderdale that led the study stated.