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WASHINGTON One out of four Americans says a lack of bed time is hurting his or her sex life.
Roughly one-fourth of those polled in a nationwide survey reported they had sex less often or lost interest in it because they were too tired.
And people who complain of their bed partners' sleeping habits aren't dreaming.
Three out of four people say their partners had sleep problems, typically snoring.
They said this cost them an average of 49 minutes of good snooze time each night, or 300 hours a year.
These are among the findings of a National Sleep Foundation survey that found sleep deprivation rampant in America at a cost of poorer health, lower job productivity and more dangerous roads.
About one-fourth of adults surveyed said their sleep problems were impacting their daily lives.
Many experts say you need a minimum of seven to nine hours of sleep a night. But the Sleep in America survey found the national average to be only 6.9 hours.
And it's getting worse. Sixteen percent of Americans said they were sleeping less than six hours on weekdays compared with 12 percent who said so in a 1998 poll.
Even on weekends, 10 percent said they were logging less than six hours a night, a drop from 8 percent in the earlier poll.
Nearly half of those surveyed 47 percent said they stay up later than they plan or want at least a few weeknights each week.
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.
"In an increasing 24-hour society, people are staying up much later," he said.
"They can go to a 24-hour pharmacy or supermarket. They can do anything at any time of the night and day. That can impact on people's decisions to stay up later watching TV, doing work, being on the Internet."
The survey also found that six out of 10 adult motorists said they had driven while drowsy in the past year.
And 4 percent reported having an accident or near accident because they were too tired or fell asleep at the wheel.
Yet seven in 10 said their doctor had never asked them about their sleep.
Post Wire Services
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