Most American adults have sleep problems

WASHINGTON — Getting a good night's sleep is hard for many adults and that often means poorer health, lower productivity on the job, more danger on the roads and a less vibrant sex life.

"By 3 to 4 in the afternoon, I'm starting to feel brain-drained and I need that caffeine to pick me back up again," said Becky Mcerien, 50, of Philadelphia.

She gets about 6.5 hours of sleep a night — slightly less than the adult average of 6.9 hours reported by the National Sleep Foundation.

Many experts say adults need a minimum of seven to nine hours of sleep a night.

A poll for the foundation, released Tuesday, indicates that three-quarters of adults say they frequently have a sleep problem, such as waking during the night or snoring.

Most people ignore the problem and few think they actually have one. Only half of those polled were able to say they slept well on most nights.

"I get what I need to function," said Guillermo Sardina, 55, of Hamilton, N.J., who averages six or seven hours a night. "I sleep through the night. I'm a sound sleeper. . . . I don't even remember my dreams."

One-fourth of adults say sleep problems have some impact on their daily lives.

Richard Gelula, the foundation's CEO, said there's a link between sleep and quality of life.

"People who sleep well, in general, are happier and healthier," he said. "But when sleep is poor or inadequate, people feel tired or fatigued, their social and intimate relationships suffer, work productivity is negatively affected, and they make our roads more dangerous by driving while sleepy and less alert."

Symptoms of a sleep problem include difficulty falling asleep, waking a lot during the night, waking up too early and not being able to get back to sleep, waking up feeling unrefreshed, snoring, unpleasant feelings in the legs or pauses in breathing.

Darwin McCallian, 51, of Burke, Va., wakes up at 4 a.m. so he can get a head start on his work day and says he sometimes gets drowsy during his commute into Washington. "When I sleep in a little bit longer, it makes me a safer driver," said McCallian, who gets six to eight hours of sleep a night.

It's not just how much sleep a person gets, but the quality of sleep that matters, the report said.

Some of the nation's sleep habits can be attributed to an always-on-the-go society, said Chris Drake, senior scientist at the Henry Ford Hospital Sleep Center in Detroit and co-chairman of the 2005 poll task force.