Single Mothers are Deprived of a lot of Sleep

A study done recently by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that single mothers are deprived of a lot of sleep. Actually, they are the most people deprived of sleep in the United States.

The findings of the study revealed that approximately 44% of the mothers that are single and have a child younger than 18 years old are sleeping less than 7 hours every night. Doctors recommend at least 7 hours of sleep per night, in order to maintain our health.

The single fathers did a little better than the single mothers, with just 38% of them not sleeping enough amounts of time. Among America’s population, single parents are the ones that sleep the least and are also the ones that suffer from insomnia the most. Many of the surveyed people admitted to using medication in order to be able to sleep better. 33% of the Americans which weren’t single parents slept less than 7 hours a night.

The health officials said that a good seven hour sleep should become a priority across the nation. This comes as previous researches showed that the lack of sleep can lead to diseases like diabetes, heart disease and depression. The lack of sleep was even associated with the development of cancer. Other studies have shown that the lack of sleep can even lead to car accidents.

According to Doctor Stuart Quan from the Boston Women’s Hospital, the findings of the study are not at all surprising. Raising a child can be difficult even for the parents who live together and share the chores. When a parent is single, the pressure and stress double. Many single parents don’t receive any financial support from the other parent, and they have to take more than one job in order to be able to support the child. Doctor Quan also said that people tend to dismiss sleep when they have other priorities, like the sake of their family or social obligations.

The rates of single parents are increasing alarmingly worldwide, and in the United States especially. The three countries with the most single parents are Latin America, Sweden and South Africa. In the United States most of the single parenting cases arise from divorces and children made outside of marriage. In 2014 there were 12 million single parents registered in the United States, of which 80% were single mothers. 1 in 4 children live without a father figure in their lives and half of those are extremely poor.

The study conducted by CDC showed that single mothers are deprived of a lot of sleep, but that single fathers also have sleeping disorders.

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