PlushBeds, a California-based mattress company, conducted a curious survey about its products. 1003 respondents of different ages answered the question what prevents them from sleeping during the night.
Their answers yielded a rather long list of problems causing them insomnia.
Approximately 65% of survey participants said that thinking about current political events caused them stress and interrupted sleep. 61% of respondents named the situation with their personal finances as the main reason for insomnia, and 60% – the actions of the country’s political leadership.
Intergenerational influences the respondents’ reported reasons for interrupting their sleep. 70% of baby boomers (born between 1946-1960) cited current political events as the main cause of insomnia, and 69% of Gen Z (born between the mid-1990s and mid-2000s) cited their personal finance.
Attitudes towards unvaccinated people were also cited as one of the reasons for sleep interruption. But if this factor was named by 65% of respondents from the “Generation Z”, then there were only 54% of baby boomers. Interestingly, neither the Millennials nor Gen X (born 1961-1975) included attitudes towards unvaccinated people among the top five causes of sleep interruption.
A 2016 study found that 1 in every 3 Americans sleep less than 7 hours a night – the amount recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for adults. Wayne Giles, chief of public health at the CDC, believes that Americans “as a nation as a whole” don’t get enough hours of sleep. He recommends to go to bed and get up at the same time and turn off TVs, computers and mobile phones in the bedroom to improve the situation with insomnia.
Newspaper headline:
Why can’t we sleep?
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