From the ArcaMax Publishing, Health & Fitness Newsletter:
http://www.arcamax.com/news/healthtips/s-565651-731972
SEATTLE (UPI) -- A U.S. study indicates 55 percent of adults reported
sleeping on average for seven hours or less per night over the past
month, researchers said.
Lead author Karen Rose of the University of Virginia in
Charlottesville said less than half of older Americans get the
recommended eight hours of nightly sleep. The study involved data from
1,570 men and women age 60 or older, who had completed telephone or
in-home surveys.
Older adults who were more educated, had higher household incomes,
were black, reported more depressive symptoms, were more active,
complained of difficulties maintaining sleep, and complained of "leg
jerks" at night were the most likely to report more difficulty
performing everyday functions as related to feeling sleepy or tired,
Rose said.
Older adults who were unmarried, black and who reported having more
difficulties with initiating or maintaining sleep had statistically
greater odds of having shortened sleep duration. People who reported
depressive symptoms were also more likely to have short sleep
durations, the study said.
"We were surprised by the fact that the self-reported amount of
physical activity did not predict functional outcomes of sleep," Rose
said in a statement. "We anticipated that people who reported lower
levels of physical activity would have more difficulty with
sleep-related functional outcomes."
The findings were presented at Sleep, the 23rd annual meeting of the
Associated Professional Sleep Societies in Seattle.