How Do Americans Rate When It Comes to Sleep?
When it comes to sleep, how does the U.S. compare to other countries? The National Sleep Foundation has just released. The results that we found were quite interesting. The Japanese it seems get the smallest amount of sleep a night —only six hours and 22 minutes — but the U.S. was a close 2nd . At an average of six hours and 31 minutes per night, we're not exactly sleeping beauties. The sad part of all this is that for well known health reasons we should be getting seven or eight hours to avoid the damaging effects of sleep deprivation. The well known health problems caused by lack of sleep are things like risk of stroke and diabetes.
Sleep hygiene or what we do right before bedtime effects how easily it is for us to fall asleep. We recommend turning off all electronics at least an hour before bed to avoid overly exciting our brains. This is really a simple solution but it seems that most people still are not taking this simple step before bed. According to the study Mexico and the U.S. were the most likely to use TV's and laptops before sleep: 80 percent and 73 percent watch TV before bed, respectively. The Japanese also were right up there with bad sleep habits: 65 percent use a laptop or tablet before turning in. Do you really want to feel bad, concentrate less and eat less healthy? These are all the well known consequences of poor sleep. So listen up...take the simple step of turning off those cell phones, laptops and television before bed. Substitute activities such as reading, meditation and gentle stretching. Your mind, body and soul will surely thank you!
