Researchers at the University of Sydney have found there has been no significant change over almost 20 years in the average amount of sleep that Australians are getting. There have been concerns that an average Australian might be losing out on sleep due to the technology overload from computers and mobile phones.
In an article published in this month's Australian Medical Journal, Associate Professor Nicholas Glozier and his fellow Sydney University researchers used figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics to compare sleeping patterns in 1992, 1997 and 2006.
“Public health concerns over declining sleep duration do not appear to be warranted,” the authors said. “The time allocated to sleep by Australian adults appears to have withstood the challenges of societal and technological change during this period.”
The authors found that sleep duration was associated with higher education, higher income, longer work and having two or more children in the household. Researchers said the findings were positive, as sleep deprivation is associated with health issues including premature death, heart disease, obesity, accident and injury, and mental health problems.
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