The National Sleep Foundation just released the results of its 2011 survey of Sleep in America®. Sixty percent of those polled reported that they have a problem sleeping every night or almost every night. And they don’t feel rested when its time to get up.

Part of the problem may be our reluctance to shut off the world at bedtime. A full 95% of us don't un-plug from our electronic devices before trying fall asleep. We watch TV, stay at the computer screen, play one more video game or continue to text within the hour before going to bed. 

It is well known that artificial light suppresses the hormone melatonin, which helps promote sleep. The light from all of our screens may be keeping us from having a restful sleep.

A report from the Kaiser Family Foundation tells us:

There is good reason to believe that different media formats (e.g. television viewing, Internet use, cell phone use, electronic game-playing) have different kinds of effects on sleep.

Different types of content within these media formats presumably also have different effects—indeed it is possible that certain media content in certain formats can function as a healthy part of bedtime routines.

Several recent posts have discussed the need for sleep and rest among kids.

Dr. Mary Carskadon is one of the foremost scholars and researchers specializing in sleep research, and is a Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University.

In the 1997-98 school year, the Minneapolis School District changed the starting time of its seven high schools to 8:40 AM. and the dismissal time to 3:20 PM. Prior to the change, classes began at 7:15 AM and dismissed at 1:45 PM. Researchers evaluated the student benefits, after this change in hours had been in place for five years.

Attendance rates improved for all 9th, 10th, and 11th grade students in the district. The greatest rate of improvement was for 9th grade students.

Two previous blogs in this series talked about “Things to Know About Your Kids Sleep Habits” and “How Much Sleep Do Kids Need?” So, let’s take a look at what can be done.

A report from Stanford University gave these recommendations:

Working overtime is bad for your heart. 

The European Heart Journal recently reported an 11-year study following 6000 men and women who worked in the British Civil service. During the study there were 369 heart attacks in the group.