Philadelphians are not getting enough sleep, study finds
A study done by Jawbone, a fitness tracker company that has also been tracking sleep patterns, found that here in Philadelphia we are not getting the NIH recommended amount of sleep each night, with an average bedtime of 11:41 p.m.
Do you find yourself burning the almost midnight oil to watch one more episode of your favorite television show or get the last load of laundry in the dryer, or maybe you are doing something more fun like a trip to the theater? It turns out that you are not alone. A study done by Jawbone, a fitness tracker company that has also been analyzing sleep patterns, found that here in Philadelphia we are not getting the NIH recommended amount of sleep each night, with an average bedtime of 11:41 p.m.
Jawbone has studied their UP users all throughout the country and has come up with some enlightening data. They found that none of their users in any of the major U.S. cites are getting enough sleep. The city known for never sleeping, New York City, is of course at the top of the list with Brooklyn taking the top spot with a 12:07 a.m. bedtime and Manhattan coming in just behind at 11:55 p.m. The average bedtime in Atlantic City was 11:53 p.m., and students at the main campus of Penn State University are hitting their dorm room beds at about 11:43 p.m. so we are in good company.
Residents in more suburban and rural areas tend to get more sleep on average which makes us curious about what it is about city living that keeps us up at night. Could it be the plethora of entertainment offered throughout the city each day from concerts to plays to karaoke at the neighborhood bar? Or maybe it is the late night delivery of your favorite pizza shop? Are our fast-paced lives making it hard for us to relax at night?
We also need to look more at how this lack of sleep is affecting our health. According to WebMD, sleep deprivation can put you at greater risk for many health conditions like heart disease, heart attack, stroke and diabetes. It can also age your skin prematurely and affect your cognitive abilities. When people say they need their beauty sleep, they are not really joking. Maybe by trying to jam too much in our day, we are really hurting ourselves.
To learn more about this study and to see how other cities fared, click here.
[h/t Be Well Philly]