Sleepless Nights Plague Americans In Bad Economy

SPOKANE — A new survey found that 30% of Americans are unable to sleep well, because they’re worried about the economy.

“She lies awake at 2 or 3 in the morning and worries about all this,” said Nancy Bauchwitz about her daughter. “You can cut the stress with a knife, on the phone even,” Bauchwitz said.

Nancy’s husband can’t sleep either.

“He’ll be up sometimes in the middle of the night, and I’ll say ‘Where are you going?’ ” said Bauchwitz.

Bauchwitz says she’ll often find her husband checking his 401K on the computer late at night.

“Everyone I talked to is highly stressed. It is causing undue stress and people are not sleeping well,” Bauchwitz said.

Curt Helsper would know because he watches people sleep for a living.

“People are going to bed a lot later and they’re waking up at the same time,” he said.

Helsper is the Lab Director at Aspen Sleep Center. Doctors send their patients to him when they need to find out why someone’s not sleeping well.

Helsper has found that more people are not sleeping well as of late. National studies show that nearly one-third of Americans are regularly unable to sleep, because they’re worried about the economy.

Just 28-precent of Americans are getting eight hours of sleep a night and 35-percent are getting less than six hours of sleep a night.

To avoid economic insomnia, the experts have some advice.

“Whether it’s in a monitored sleep center like this one, or at home, people need to get in a routine and try to forget the stresses of the day,” Helsper said.

Helsper says routine is key. Going to bed at the same time every night will prove to be a big help.

Other tips include avoiding exercise within two hours of bedtime. Relaxation will help induce sleep, which means no TV or computer.

“Just try to tune everything out,” said Helsper.

Experts say that not enough sleep can shorten your life-span.