Thursday, March 15, 2012

RE: Sleep as a victim of the “time crunch” – A multinational analysis

Summary

A major aim of this research was to present analyses of reports of decreased sleep, which were based on estimate data, and were not supported by findings of flat or increased sleep time in time diaries. The analyses suggest that there is no credible evidence of any decline in sleep in most of the countries surveyed. According to the authors, the reports of this research is consistent with earlier studies showing no long-term decrease in free time or effects of a 24/7 economy as a reflection of a societal time crunch from work, family or other pressures on personal time.

Opinion

Many would agree that the growing trend for late nights and early mornings is actually a ticking time bomb for the modern society. There appears to be an expectation in today’s society to fit more into an individual’s daily life. The whole work-life balance struggle seems to be causing too many people to trade in their sleeping time to ensure they complete all the tasks before them.

Nonetheless, the hypothetical question that comes to mind is: What if lack of sleep is the reason why people try to fill up more of their daily time with work? Perhaps a case could be made for the likelihood of causality to flow in both directions. I believe that a prospective randomization survey of the inherent and variant factors that precipitate reduced sleep hours – on one hand, and the increased tendency to spend more hours at work on the other hand, might establish a bi-directional causal link between the two issues.

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