Here is an all-too-common scenario: Jeff and Mary put the kids to bed and settle down for the night to watch television. Jeff has his smartphone at his bedside and keeps checking email, social media, texts and the baseball scores while Mary checks her work emails, plays Words With Friends and checks her Facebook. At 11 they decide to turn out the lights and both of them place their phones next to the bed. Mary puts hers on silent but Jeff keeps his on vibrate in case he gets an important message during the night. Both have a tough time getting to sleep. John awakens several times during the night and checks his phone and answers an email or two. He has trouble falling back to sleep each time. They both awaken feeling exhausted. This goes on night after night after night. On the weekends they park the kids in front of the TV in the morning and try to sleep as long as possible but they are still tired come Monday.
We all know how important it is that we get a good night's sleep. What does that mean? Well, for young college-age adults the National Sleep Foundation recommends 7 to 9 hours per night. For younger children the recommendation is even more nightly sleep. For adults like Mary and Jeff the recommendation is usually around 7 to 8 hours per night.
