Night owls: Poll shows quarter of adults still up at midnight
A quarter of Americans are up past midnight regularly, while another 17% say they hit the sack “around” midnight, according to a recent Yahoo News/YouGov poll.
That’s bad news unless they can linger in bed a little in the morning, say experts, who warn that most adults need between seven and eight hours of sleep a night.
In the survey of 1,482 U.S. adults, conducted March 8-11, the majority of those polled said they get less than the recommended minimum of seven hours sleep. Asked how much sleep folks get on average each night, the most common answers were 7-8 hours and 5-6 hours (38% each), followed by less than five hours (13%) and more than eight hours (8%). The other 4% either didn’t know or didn’t want to say.
“After midnight” was the most-selected option for when people go to sleep. Roughly 5% say they go to sleep before or around 8 p.m., 9% say 9 p.m., 19% say around 10 p.m. and 20% say 11 p.m. is bedtime. Again, 4% say they don’t know or choose not to answer.
In its summary of the poll, Yahoo News reported that young adults are, perhaps surprisingly, less apt to say they go to bed late, compared to other age groups, at just 20% for those ages 18 to 29. For them, 11 p.m. is the popular choice, with nearly 1 in 4 choosing it. The midnight folks are most apt to be 45-64 (28%), 30-44 (26%) or 65 and older (24%).
Experts note that it is quality of sleep and duration that really matter. And people have their own circadian rhythms.
Still, a study in the journal Experimental Physiology by researchers at Rutgers University found that early risers use more fat not only during exercise, but even at rest compared to the night owls who stay up late. And aerobic fitness levels don’t change that. Early birds are also busier throughout the day, burning more fat, compared to the night owls, who store more.
How much sleep do I need?
In Deseret News’ recent “Guide to sleep from A to Zzzs,” experts said one of the worst things people can do is treat sleep as optional and short themselves routinely, but there’s variation in what works for the individual, although seven hours’ sleep on a regular basis is considered very important.
“Last year, researchers found young people with better sleep habits are ‘incrementally less likely to die early.’ The Harvard-led team said about 1 in 12 deaths — regardless of cause — might be sleep-related. Researchers found sleeping seven to eight hours and not struggling with sleep more than twice a week, not needing medicine to sleep and feeling rested on rising could add nearly five years to a man’s life expectancy and half that to a woman’s,” per the article.
“Check yourself before you wreck yourself” is advice that works in a lot of different realms, but probably none more than when it comes to getting enough sleep. According to the Sleep Foundation, there are definite warning signs you are shorting yourself when it comes to meeting sleep needs. And some of the results could be dangerous.
If you doze off frequently and sometimes in dangerous places, like some jobs or while driving, you need to prioritize getting more sleep. The same is true if your reaction times are slower than usual.
Folks who have a hard time focusing, solving problems, making decisions or remembering might be able to boost all those processes by getting more sleep. Ditto if you’re making more mistakes.
And cranky, impulsive kids often simply need to get their sleep patterns under control and ensure that they are adequately rested.
