Getting an adequate amount of sleep each night is imperative for overall good health -- yet a new study, compiled by researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), showed more than a third of U.S. adults are not regularly sleeping enough.
According to CDC guidelines, an adequate amount of sleep for adults ages 18 to 60 is seven hours or more per day. Poor sleep habits have been linked to obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke and mental distress.
“As a nation, we are not getting enough sleep,” Wayne Giles, director of CDC’s division of population health, said. “Lifestyle changes -- such as going to bed at the same time each night, rising at the same time each morning and turning off or removing televisions, computers, mobile devices from the bedroom -- can help people get the healthy sleep they need.”
The study also showed that length of sleep varied depending on where study subjects lived, in addition to their race, employment status and marital status.
