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Sleepy Time Contrary to popular belief, Americans average as much or more sleep than they did 40 years ago 
Feeling rested? That's because Americans are averaging three more hours of sleep per week than one decade ago. A University of Maryland study, "Not So Sleep Deprived: Sleep in America, 1965-2000," reports that the average person sleeps 59 hours per week, making the suggested eight hours per night a reality for most. "Many Americans work too much, but most don't seem to be cutting corners on their sleep to do so," says University of Maryland sociologist John P. Robinson, a pioneer time-use researcher and the lead author of the study. "Lots of people may feel like they're on a 24/7 treadmill. But the picture of the typical American as sleep-starved is not consistent with what they report in their time diaries." Maryland sociologists analyzed data collected by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the U.S. Census Bureau annually between 2003 and 2005. More than 37,000 adults aged 18 to 64 spent about 10- to 15-minutes on the phone detailing activities from the previous day, hour-by-hour. These findings were then compared with Robinson's smaller time-diary study conducted between 1965 and 2001 at roughly ten-year intervals. Study groups numbered between 1,200 to 10,000 people. Departing from the time diaries collected in 1965, TV is no longer robbing Americans of rest. New numbers show that people who watch more TV also get more sleep. "This original thief of sleep time has now evolved into its main companion or partner in providing relaxation and escapism from our waking life," says the report. "Obviously, there's a significant gap in these findings, but both sets of figures are consistent with pressured lifestyles," Robinson says. "Sleeping more may itself be a sign that waking hours are increasingly hectic and tiring. Also, these sleep results should not be used to minimize the severe problems many people face from insomnia, truncated sleep or inadequate 'down times.'"
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