Recently we spotted an article on CBC.ca about the major causes of lack of sleep.
We thought the article took an interesting approach, because of the way it broke down each ‘risk factor’ to the average number of minutes per night that it affected a person for lack of sleep. Individually, it’s not a big deal. But if you are at risk for multiple risk factors, it can really add up. Take a look:
The paper summarizes a few of the known risk factors associated with lack of sleep:
- BMI — People with a body mass index considered to be overweight or obese sleep on average between about 2.5 minutes to seven minutes less per night, on average.
- Smoking — Smokers sleep on average five minutes less every night.
- Gender — Men sleep on average nine minutes less than women do every night.
- Sugary drinks — Have been associated with 3.4 minutes less sleep every night.
- Shift work — People with irregular working hours tend to get 2.7 minutes less sleep every night.
- Commuting — People with commutes of between 30-60 minutes each way tend to get 9.2 minutes less sleep. Those with longer commutes of more than an hour fare even worse, with 16.5 minutes less sleep.
- Exercise — People who get less than two hours of activity per week tend to get 2.6 minutes less sleep than those who exercise.
- Mental health — People with medium to high risk of mental-health problems sleep on average 17.2 minutes less per day than those with low risk.
Some major disasters have been linked to lack of sleep. Some mentioned were Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, Exxon Valdez, and the Space Shuttle Challenger. So definitely don’t mess with your nuclear reactor or spaceship if you’re sleep deprived. Read the article in its entirety here.
At Fawcett, although we sell mattresses. Really we are helping people achieve a great night’s sleep, and peace of mind. What are you sleeping on?