It may not be surprising to many people the work causes stress, nor will it be a surprise that work cuts into the sleep time of many individuals, more so than other possible activities such as late-night socializing, but perhaps the biggest surprise it is the largest factor responsible for robbing people of their sleep time. Quitting your job to get more sleep may not be a valid option, and only in extreme cases would moving closer to your workplace reduce or eliminate the second biggest cause of losing sleep for most people, commuting.
A study published in the journal Sleep surveyed about 50,000 participants and asked what they did between the hours of 4 am and 4 am on the previous day. Those who slept 4 and a half hours or less worked an average of 93 minutes longer on weekdays and almost two hours longer on weekends. Conversely, those who average eleven hours of sleep on a daily basis worked and hour and a half less on weekdays and a little more than an hours less on weekends. Whether or not this is a cause and effect relationship remains to be seen, as people. Many people dream of quitting their job, but those who get more sleep are likely working part time to begin with and have less demands placed on their time.
The major cause of the decreased sleep time and quality seems to be a work environment where increasingly longer hours are expected and more often than not, stores and factories are open late into the night. The trend will likely continue into the future as both work environments and the availability of leisure opportunities around the clock continue. The best way to reverse the trend on an individual level for now is for look for ways to improve the quantity and quality of sleep.
While eight hours is not necessarily required for a good night's sleep, and what a person requires will depend on a number of factors, getting rest is essential to many of the healing processes and regenerative processes of the body. Well, for those who can afford it quitting their day job or working for home may be a viable alternative, but for most people it may not hurt to find a more comfortable mattress and make sure you're getting quality sleep time. It's not likely you will miss so much sleep that cognitive impairment, paranoia, hallucinations or death will result. Now, who's up for a glass of warm milk? It'll cause less insomnia in the long run than quitting your job to get more sleep.
