More than one-third of American adults don’t get seven hour sleep on a regular basis. The findings of the first national survey on sleep have raised an alarm about the sleep deprived individuals and the health impacts of missing adequate sleep. The result of survey has been published for all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Telephonic interviewing was source of research, and researchers reported factors which could influence sleep.

The researchers did a random telephone survey on 444,306 respondents. The results showed that majority of the adults, around 65%, were experiencing sound sleep of seven and more than seven hours, while the rest 35% were sleep deprived.

The status of unemployment was influential in affecting sleep patterns as unemployment can lead to depression. Other cause of sleep deprivation was that on being a part of racial or ethnic groups, one is likely to get less sleep than other dominating communities. The factors which would influence sleep positively were holding college degree and being married. The reason maybe that college graduates could find jobs or had jobs, influencing their sleep.

“As a nation we are not getting enough sleep, lifestyle changes such as going to bed at the same time each night; rising at the same time each morning; and turning off or removing televisions, computers, mobile devices from the bedroom, can help people get the healthy sleep they need,” said Wayne Giles, M.D., director of CDC’s Division of Population Health.

According to American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society, seven hours of sleep every night is sufficient. Sleeping less is linked to number of unhealthy conditions, such as obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke and frequent mental distress.

However, a study conducted last year gave contrary results. The study was done on primitive communities in remote villages, which lacked modern day facilities. It was found that even after sleeping for nearly six hours, they were healthy.