The National Sleep Foundation has just published its 1998 Women and Sleep Poll. This poll reflects a nationally representative, civilian telephone survey of 1,012 women between the ages of 30 and 60 years old living in households within the continental United States.

Estimates based on this sample size have an error range of plus or minus 3 percentage points at a confidence level of 95%. Some of the major results appear in the tables below. To access additional information including an educational pamphlet entitled Women & Sleep directly from the National Sleep Foundation, go to (http://www.sleepfoundation.org)

• The women surveyed sleep an average of 6.7 hours during the workweek and 7.3 hours on the weekends. Sixteen percent of the women surveyed sleep less than 6 hours nightly across the workweek.
• A full 46% of the women surveyed compensate for their sleep "debt" across the workweek by sleeping an average of 1.6 hours longer on the weekend.
• Napping is common with 50% of women 30-39 years old taking naps on the weekends compared to 40% of women 40-60 years old.
• 39% of the women surveyed acknowledged taking at least 1 nap during the past 2 workweeks.
• Naps average 1 hour in length for the group. However, the naps of 30-39 year old women averaged 15-20 minutes longer than the naps of 40-60 year old women.

• 35% of women between the ages of 30 and 60 years old report "feeling unrefreshed upon awakening" in the morning.
• 20% report difficulty getting to sleep.
• 20% report waking up during the night and having difficulty returning to sleep again.
• 20% report waking up repeatedly during the night.
• 20% report waking up too early in the morning, unable to go back to sleep.
• 38% of women between the ages of 30 and 60 years old report awakening on almost a nightly basis to go to the bathroom.

• 51% of the women surveyed report that their disturbed or restricted sleep time directly interfered with daytime responsibilities a few days or more a month.
• Self-Rated Performance on days adversely affected by sleep disturbances is reduced by 25% to 50%.
• Quality of Life -- Enjoyment of daytime activities on days adversely affected by sleep disturbances is reduced by 30% to 50%.
• Adverse effects of sleep disturbances on Interpersonal Relationships -- 34% of the women report adverse effects on the marital/partner relationship, 28% report adverse effects on the parental relationship, 22% report adverse effects on extended family relationships and friendships.

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