Sleep Sacrificed at Work's Altar More time spent in office, less in bed By Adam Marcus HealthScout Reporter TUESDAY, March 27 (HealthScout) -- Telling you what you doubtless already know, a new survey says Americans are working more and sleeping less than they did five years ago. More than six in 10 adults in this country say they aren't getting enough shut-eye, the study shows, and nearly seven in 10 say they have trouble - - such as insomnia -- that frustrates their slumber. Meanwhile, nearly 40 percent of working Americans are toiling 50 hours a week or more, time that cuts into not only sleep but leisure activities, family life, and sex. "Americans continue to get too little sleep," says Richard Gelula, executive director of the National Sleep Foundation, which released the survey to coincide with Sleep Awareness Week, now running. snoring solutions sleep disorder "People told us they're working more than five years ago, and sleeping less than five years ago." For most people, eight hours is the ideal amount of sleep. "Not getting it has downsides to health, mood, reaction, performance and productivity," Gelula says. Dr. Carl Hunt, director of the National Center on Sleep Disorders Research, an arm of the National Institutes of Health, says studies show that people who have even mild sleeping problems are more prone to high blood pressure and strokes, both of which can lead to death. "Sleep is as important as a healthy diet and exercise in terms of health and well being," says Hunt. The survey results are based on telephone calls to more than 1,000 adults. It is conducted annually by the sleep foundation, a Washington, D.C., nonprofit research and advocacy group whose "hold" music for sleep apnea surgery sleep disorder its telephone number includes the peaceful "Brahms Lullaby." Sleepless as good as drunk Americans who work more than a 40 hour week are likely to be giving their beds short shrift, the survey shows. Those who put in more than 50 hours at the office report getting 6.7 hours of sleep a night, on average, while those who work 60 or more hours sleep about 6.5 hours a night. That can have serious, and potentially deadly, implications, Gelula says. Research shows that people who are awake 17.5 hours in a row or more a day suffer impairment equivalent to having a blood alcohol level of 0.10 -- legal drunkenness. "When you start to stretch your day you become so impaired that you're a danger" to yourself and others, he says. Highway officials say some 100,000 auto accidents occur each year on the tips to stop snoring sleep disorder nation's
