PUBLIC OPINION > Eight Hours of Sleep Is Just Right
SodaHead Living
2012/02/23 14:00:00
How much sleep we get on average depends on a lot of different factors -- how busy our schedule is, how quickly we can fall asleep, how loud our partner snores, kids, being involved in a long-term sleep deprivation experiment... The list goes on and on. And whether or not we're getting it, most of us probably have an idea of what a healthy amount of sleep is based on how we feel throughout the day. If you only get about 6 hours a night, you'll probably be pretty drowsy throughout the day; if you're sleeping from midnight to noon, you might start to feel a bit lazy. Brigham Young University suggests seven hours a night for anyone 16 or older, and eight or nine for younger children. But we wanted to know how much sleep the public prefers to get.
How Much Sleep Do You Need?
32% Would Like Their Eight Hours
Seven hours a night seems a little short, doesn't it? More respondents called for eight hours, an hour longer than studies recommend. And we don't blame them. When we set our alarm we don't set it to wake up, we set it to warn us the hour is approaching. If some scientist tells us to get X hours of sleep, we're gonna want one more. Most people admitted seven to nine hours will suit them just fine, but seven seems to warrant a cup of coffee. It must have something to do with that REM cycle we hear so much about.
Men Get Less Sleep
Men Get Less Sleep
It didn't take long to locate a demographic that deviated from the norm. More male voters said they get fewer than seven hours of sleep (34%), and they were 9% less likely than women to get nine hours or more. Some claimed to be able to get by on three or four hours, but most cited about six.
Teens Sleep All Day
Lucky dogs! More than a third of teens claim to get over eight hours. But studies do show that younger people need more sleep, so we won't hold it against them. We might be a little bit jealous, but they still have to put up with all that high school drama. You win some, you lose some.
No Rest for the Wicked
Now, now. We don't mean to suggest that atheists are "wicked." It was just for the sake of the pun, you see. But they were noticeably more likely to say they get less than seven hours a night. Agnostics, on the other hand, typically got eight or more.
If you'd like to vote on this question, dig deeper into the demographics, or engage in existing discussion about the topic, visit our original poll about sleep. We'd love to hear from you!
Top Opinion
-
jamie 2012/02/23 19:15:45
...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/mag...