HHS HealthBeat (April 26, 2011)

Need sleep?

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

Lots of us get too little sleep, and it shows. Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention examined survey data on almost 75,000 adults in 12 states. The researchers say more than one third reported getting too little sleep, which the National Sleep Foundation defined as less than seven hours a night.

The CDC’s Lela McKnight-Eily says the effect of that lack of sleep shows up in problems people reported they had at least once a month:

``More than a third reported unintentionally falling asleep during the day at least one day, and one in 20 reported nodding off or falling asleep while driving.’’ (9 seconds)

The study is in CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Learn more at hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: May 7, 2011