Americans Sleepier Than Europeans

[one...two...tree 2,762]

LiveScience.com

If you feel yourself nodding off during a meeting today, rest assured that you're not the only one. Nearly one in five Americans who participated in a recent study reported falling asleep or being drowsy in situations that required a high level of concentration, such as during meetings or conversations.

And excessive sleepiness is more common in the U.S. than in Europe, the study found. This raises concerns for public health and safety, according to research that will be presented today at the annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies LLC in San Antonio, Texas.

Sleep studies are prone to concluding that we're all sleep-deprived. Often, as is the case with this one, they're funded by drug companies that benefit from this perception. In fact, scientists aren't really sure how much sleep you need, and studies find that the requirement varies significantly from one person to another, for reasons not fully understood.

So what's most interesting in the new study is not so much the idea that many people aren't getting enough sleep, but that Americans suffer the problem more than do Europeans.

The numbers

The researchers found that 19.5 percent of U.S. adults reported having moderate to excessive sleepiness, and the results were comparable between men and women. In a previous study, researchers reported that the prevalence of excessive daytime sleepiness in five European countries was 15 percent.

Further, 11 percent of U.S. participants reported severe sleepiness, which was more prevalent in women (13 percent) than in men (8.6 percent).

"The prevalence of excessive daytime sleepiness is very high in the American population, much higher than what we observed in the European population," said principal investigator Dr. Maurice Ohayon, psychiatry professor at Stanford University and director of the Stanford Sleep Epidemiology Research Center in Palo Alto, Calif.

"Insufficient sleep is plaguing the American population and is one of the leading factors for excessive daytime sleepiness," Ohayon said.

Who's at risk

People with obstructive sleep apnea were three times more likely to be sleepy during the daytime, people with insomnia and those who typically sleep for six hours or less were more than two times more likely to be drowsy, and people who perform night work and those with a major depressive disorder were nearly two times more likely to report sleepiness.

These results raise public safety concerns, particularly regarding the potential for workplace injuries and drowsy driving accidents related to excessive sleepiness.

"The number of individuals sleepy or drowsy during situations where they should be alert is disturbing," Ohayon said. "Sleepiness is underestimated in its daily life consequences for the general population, for the shift workers and for the people reducing their amount of sleep for any kind of good reasons. It is always a mistake to curtail your sleep."

Last October the CDC released survey data showing that about 11 percent of respondents reported that they never got enough rest or sleep during the past 30 days.

The new study involved a sample of 8,937 people aged 18 or over living in Texas, New York and California. Participants were interviewed by telephone on sleeping habits, health, sleep problems and mental disorders. The research was supported by the Arrillaga Foundation, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke of the National Institutes of Health, and an educational grant from Cephalon, a pharmaceutical company.

[TBoneTX 45,468]

Si, man.

I want to be reincarnated as a house-cat, wherein I can sleep 22 hours/day or whatever the usual is for those pampered, furry critters.

[Pinocchio Liberal 268]

Holding a picket sign and throwing a few rocks isnt that tough.

[Darnell 8,478]

I thought Europeans had a nap break, or a longer lunch break, on average ? Yes?

[Gemmie 142]

This explains why my husband is always falling asleep during movies.

He says he can't control it.

[Krikit 1,164]

Americans freaking work too much. They have longer hours and shorter vacations than the rest of the civilized world. In fact, some of you have to use up your vacation time because you don't get any/enough sick time! That's outrageous.

[^_^ 5,021]

Americans freaking work too much.

Running the planet is a dirty job, but somebody's gotta do it.

[Heracles 417]

Running the planet is a dirty job, but somebody's gotta do it.

Time to take care of your own dilapidated backyard before 'worrying' about the world. However, we all know that running the world really means looking out for your own self-interests.

[Pinocchio Liberal 268]

Americans freaking work too much. They have longer hours and shorter vacations than the rest of the civilized world. In fact, some of you have to use up your vacation time because you don't get any/enough sick time! That's outrageous.

Are you from Greece?

[^_^ 5,021]

Time to take care of your own dilapidated backyard before 'worrying' about the world.

Who's worried? The adults (who just happen to work a lot) are in charge.

[Heracles 417]

Are you from Greece?

Last time I checked, both Canada and Australia are still doing well in this worldwide slump. Australians get four weeks minimum vacation.

Who's worried? The adults (who just happen to work a lot) are in charge.

Too bad this does not translate to a high quality of life or wealth. Thus, what the heck are you working like rats for? The American dream?

Edited June 9, 2010 by Booyah!

[^_^ 5,021]

Too bad this does not translate to a high quality of life or wealth. Thus, what the heck are you working like rats for? The American dream?

The American dream is liberty from tyranny.

You may think the American dream is a 50 inch plasma or a fence around your neighborhood, but you'd be wrong.

[Pinocchio Liberal 268]

Last time I checked, both Canada and Australia are still doing well in this worldwide slump. Australians get four weeks minimum vacation.

Too bad this does not translate to a high quality of life or wealth. Thus, what the heck are you working like rats for? The American dream?

Canada is doing great?

Could Canadian Healthcare Cuts Drive More Clinicians to the U.S.?

By Pat Muccigrosso, contributor

May 3, 2010 - Rising healthcare costs and falling budgets aren’t just issues being felt by hospitals, doctors and nurses in the United States. Canadian provinces, which provide medical care to all citizens through a national health insurance program, are struggling with similar economic constraints. And the situation is beginning to affect nurses especially.

“The costs in Ontario are now taking over 47 percent of the annual budget. The government is trying to ‘bend the cost curve’ as they say and get the costs in line,” said Linda Haslam-Stroud, RN. Haslam-Stroud is president of the Ontario Nurses Association, which represents more than 56,000 Canadian nurses. She explained that the efforts to control costs mean “cutting some of the services previously provided and cutting back on the number of nursing hours the patients are receiving.”

http://www.amnhealthcare.com/News/news-details.aspx?Id=33988

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Americans freaking work too much. They have longer hours and shorter vacations than the rest of the civilized world. In fact, some of you have to use up your vacation time because you don't get any/enough sick time! That's outrageous.

It is.

[Heracles 417]

The American dream is liberty from tyranny.

You may think the American dream is a 50 inch plasma or a fence around your neighborhood, but you'd be wrong.

Evidently you never got the memo that this is not the 1700's. Contrary to popular belief, the rest of the world is not some tyrannical place. Even funnier is that a large portion of the first world has democratically rejected US style liberty. Aka sorry, not interested.

The funniest thing of all is your view that the US has liberty from Tyranny, yet you are one of few first world countries where the judicial system is the ultimate commander and chief; decides the fate and future of the country. Heck we don't even have a Bill of Rights in AUS but are more internationally recognized for it than Texas is for oil, steaks and boobs. Anyone with deductive reasoning would at the very least ponder how and why that would be.

You guys replaced Kings and Queens with class inequality, judicial tyranny and even allowing the private and wealthy Aristocrats to call the shots; yet don't even realize it because you are still beating on about liberty from K&Q - a long gone era.

Edited June 9, 2010 by Booyah!