Saturday, July 24, 2010

New Parents Lose Six Months of Sleep, says Unscientific Survey


Prospective parents usually go into the final months of pregnancy bracing for months of poor sleep. New information about the amount of sleep most lose may surprise even the most experienced mothers and fathers.

There’s a report out that parents lose an average of six months of sleep in the first two years of raising a child.

There’s good reason to be suspicious about this seemingly inflated statistic. The information came from a completely unscientific survey conducted by a bed and mattress manufacturer. We’ll share the results anyway, but take them with a grain of salt.

The surveyors reached out to 1,000 parents in the United Kingdom earlier this July as part an event called “National Love Your Bed Week.”

Almost two thirds of parents reported getting about three and three-quarters hour of sleep, including naps during the first two years of raising a child. Silentnight Beds supposedly did the math. The press release reports those parents missed out on six months of total sleep during that period. About 1 in 10 parents had less than two-and-a-half hours of uninterrupted sleep.

There’s no way to verify any of these statistics, but it doesn’t take a peer-approved clinical study to know new parents will lose sleep. Luckily the Sleep Education Blog and Sleepeducation.com have some advice to get some sleep while raising a newborn.

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