Women in the U.S. too tired for sex

At least that is what the headline says.  Of course
the article is
not really about sex; the sex part is only a small part of the findings
of the study.  But headline writers know how to get attention.
 What is really striking to me about this report is not that
it
shows that sleep problems impair a person's sex life, but that sleep
problems contribute to many risk factors for mood disorders.
 It
is not one of the conclusions of the study, at least as reported in the
summary.  But it is rather worrisome, to me at least.



Major depression is a serious problem; it is, in fact, one of the
leading contributors to the worldwide burden of disease.  And
now
we find that American lifestyles put us at greater risk.

href="http://www.news-medical.net/?id=22438">Women in the
U.S. too tired for sex

Women's Health News

Published: Wednesday, 7-Mar-2007

According to a poll by the href="http://www.sleepfoundation.org/">National Sleep
Foundation
(NFS), mothers who are home all day suffer the most, and the lack of
sleep is making women stressed and anxious and is affecting all areas
of their lives.



The 2007 Sleep in America poll investigated how sleep habits change
throughout a woman's life and how sleep is affected by lifestyle.



The poll found that 70 percent of women frequently have a problem
sleeping, and 60 percent only get a good night's sleep a few nights a
week.



Seventy two percent of working mothers and 68 percent of single working
women also suffer from insomnia and are struggling to cope with a lack
of sleep.



Poor sleep is associated with poor mood and the majority of women
reported being bothered by worrying too much about things.



Kathryn Lee, of the National Sleep Foundation says women's lack of
sleep affects virtually every aspect of their time-pressed lives,
leaving them late for work, stressed out, too tired for sex and with
little time for their friends.

They do mention the association with "poor mood."  But that is
not
the same as mood disorders.  It would have been a much more
complex study is they actually associated the findings of their survey
with diagnostic interviews directed at finding a correlation with mood
disorders.  But the findings of the study do indicate a
significant increase in risk, at least by implication.

The survey questioned 1,003 women between
the ages of 18-64
and found that women tend to compromise the most important aspects of
good health, diet, exercise and sleep when they are trying to juggle
the day's ongoing responsibilities.

We often are proud or the fact that US workers are the most productive
in the world.  It looks as  moms perhaps are the
busiest in
the world, too.  But it comes at a price.