YOUR STATE OF SLEEP DEPRIVATION
Money magazine did a reader survey exploring the topic of how important sleep is to workers (“The Financial Side of Sleep” March 2016, p. 18). Readers responded to a question about how sleep-deprived they are. Here are the states that had the highest percentages of people saying they are sleep-deprived:
- 37%—West Virginia
- 34.9%—Kentucky
- 31.4%—Tennessee
And here are the states that had the lowest percentages of people saying they are sleep-deprived:
- 22.9%—North Dakota
- 23.6%—Oregon
- 23.9%—South Dakota
We have quite a disparity between the two ends of the spectrum. I am surprised at the three top sleep-deprivation states. The very names of those states suggest a slower pace of life. Oh, well, I am often wrong about many things. I would have come up with New York, New Jersey, and Illinois.
Perhaps equally surprising to me are the three bottom sleep-deprivation states. Perhaps it is something about that far north, Canada-proximity states that influences the culture. I would have figured Florida, Arizona, and Louisiana.
Regardless of the state in which you reside, sleep deprivation is more than a state of mind, and one to be avoided if possible. Most of us are not quite that fortunate. Nevertheless, we should do what we can to reshuffle our priorities and balance our lives in such a fashion that we at least preserve as much of our special sleep time as possible. Let’s face it. You don’t want anyone, including yourself, to think you are a zombie.
