3 ms·

> my guess would be that people who get only 7 hours of sleep tend to be more successful, have jobs and families, and access to health care. Whereas those sleep

> my guess would be that people who get only 7 hours of sleep tend to be more successful, have jobs and families, and access to health care. Whereas those sleeping 10 hours a night are less likely to have the income to get health care when necessary. I think you may be having a selection bias here: there is a lot of people who sleep 8-9 hours at night who are in high income brackets (I think that’s what you mean by “successful”, even though that’s a debatable metric). The healthcare problem is a US-specific one, although probably if you are in a union job you’re likely to be getting decent healthcare while working hours that let you sleep.

oarabbus_ 7y ago
>I think you may be having a selection bias here: there is a lot of people who sleep 8-9 hours at night who are in high income brackets (I think that’s what you mean by “successful”, even though that’s a debatable metric). I'd disagree. Numerous studies with large sample sizes show the average sleep in America is 6 hours and change. I'd need to see some hard evidence that there are "a lot" of people, that is, a statistically significant number of high-earners, who sleep 8-9 hours. In fact, there is evidence to the contrary of your claim: >Turns out, the difference is pretty negligible — the "successful" people get 12 minutes less than the average American. According to this 2013 Gallup poll, the average American gets 6.8 hours of sleep every night. https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/12/24/460929475/how-do-successful-peoples-sleep-patterns-compare-to-the-average-american https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/12/24/460929475...
- samatman 7y ago
  This may sound like pedantry, but I would call 6.8 "almost seven hours" not "6 hours and change". I track my sleep as best I can, and nearly-seven is sustainable, while a bit more than six on a consistent basis leaves me feeling pretty wrung out. The extra 45 minutes we're talking about here are likely to be mostly REM, given how intensely I dream when I start napping to make up a deficit.

oarabbus_ 7y ago

>I think you may be having a selection bias here: there is a lot of people who sleep 8-9 hours at night who are in high income brackets (I think that’s what you mean by “successful”, even though that’s a debatable metric). I'd disagree. Numerous studies with large sample sizes show the average sleep in America is 6 hours and change. I'd need to see some hard evidence that there are "a lot" of people, that is, a statistically significant number of high-earners, who sleep 8-9 hours. In fact, there is evidence to the contrary of your claim: >Turns out, the difference is pretty negligible — the "successful" people get 12 minutes less than the average American. According to this 2013 Gallup poll, the average American gets 6.8 hours of sleep every night. https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/12/24/460929475/how-do-successful-peoples-sleep-patterns-compare-to-the-average-american https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/12/24/460929475...

samatman 7y ago
This may sound like pedantry, but I would call 6.8 "almost seven hours" not "6 hours and change". I track my sleep as best I can, and nearly-seven is sustainable, while a bit more than six on a consistent basis leaves me feeling pretty wrung out. The extra 45 minutes we're talking about here are likely to be mostly REM, given how intensely I dream when I start napping to make up a deficit.