DETROIT — Americans these days sleep fewer than seven hours a night, compared with nearly nine hours a century ago, according to the National Institutes of Health.
And more than one-third of adults report daytime sleepiness so severe that it interferes with work, driving and social functioning.
So sleep specialists and doctors recommend using that extra hour tonight — time falls back one hour at 2 a.m. — to catch some zzz’s.
This week, the AAA Foundation released a survey in which 1 in 3 drivers conceded that, within the previous month, they had been behind the wheel despite having trouble keeping their eyes open. Previous research by the AAA Foundation suggested that 1 in 6 fatal accidents involved a sleepy driver.
“People are very well aware of the dangers of drinking and driving. But being drowsy is just as dangerous,” said Nancy Cain, spokeswoman for AAA Michigan.
Although you may stay alert surrounded by others, driving is often a solitary, monotonous activity during which exhaustion can kick in.
Tonight presents not just the opportunity to close what former Michigan State University researcher Christopher Barnes calls a “sleep deficit.”
Some studies have suggested that disrupting your circadian rhythms — your internal clock — may cause everything from more traffic fatalities to workplace accidents and even heart attacks, said Dr. Meeta Singh, a sleep specialist at Henry Ford Health System.
That’s because circadian rhythms pace more than sleep. They govern when we are hungry, for example, and when we are most alert, she said:
“Everything has a 24-hour rhythm to it. … It does take a little while to get used to the time change.”
Despite the advice to squeeze as much shut-eye out of tonight as possible, Barnes’ MSU research suggests that we won’t heed doctors’ advice. That extra hour will be spent somewhere other than bed.
Today, “people see that extra hour and say ‘Wow, I want to use that’ ” for something other than sleeping, Barnes said.
And to tell whether you’ve accrued that sleep debt Barnes talks about? Go to sleep tonight at your regular time.
“If you’ve been getting plenty of sleep over the last month or two, then you probably will wake up at your normal circadian rhythm point, and great, you have an extra hour (Sunday). But if you’ve picked up sleep debt, there’s a chance you’ll keep sleeping because you needed it,” he said.
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