There used to be a time when sleeplessness was associated to having problems or difficulties in life, which disables the person to sleep properly. Or it was also associated to a particularly heavy burden of work load, depriving individuals to get that much needed daily R & R. Nowadays this is far from the truth.

The National Sleep Foundation recently disclosed that only one-thirds of Americans feel that they get enough sleep during the week. The rest claims to have insufficient sleep time, and almost half claims to “rarely or never” getting sleep during the night. Wow, does that mean that’s how many Americans are disturbed, carrying a burden, or having a difficult time?

Not so. The same study reveals that of the same demographics surveyed, an astounding 95% use some sort of device that lets them get hooked to the outside world, even if they are already in bed, literally and figuratively. Handheld devices such as smartphones and iTouch, televisions, laptops, video games, these are all devices that people attend to, even right before they close their eyes to sleep. Most people are now talking to their friends before they sleep, and even before they get up from the bed. And then there’s the ever present television, which is just like a babysitter who tucks kids to sleep at night and keeps them warm.

With all these distractions, it isn’t much a wonder why people sleep less and less everyday. Whether it’s the excitement of talking to friends, or the actual effect of having difficulty in sleeping due to exposure to artificial light, we clearly need to detach ourselves from the outside world if we want to get some sleep.

Credit : graur codrin