Can't Get Money off the Brain by Rebecca Chaplin

 Have you ever considered that the amount of money you make every day, every week, every month, and even every year could impact the amount of sleep you get each night? Most people would read that statement and overall assume that those who are wealthy and come from high socioeconomic classes would exhibit better sleeping patterns than those of lower socioeconomic classes, which I believe to be true. But maybe that is not always the case. I am sure that there are many factors that would contribute to each and every social economic class that may be similar but also different that contributes to individuals sleeping habits. Factors that contribute to sleep habits could possibly be overall stress of a job, income, and technology.

Majority of the time the stereotypes say that those who have little money do not sleep as good as those who live comfortably or are rich. Those who come from a lower socioeconomic class often feel more pressure and stress when it comes to their income and how much money they make. When the breadwinner of a family becomes stressed and worried about money it then begins to affect the whole family.

But adults of low socioeconomic classes are not the only ones affected. These children from lower class families often exhibit these bad sleeping habits, as well (Preidt, 2007). For many reason people would think that little kids from lower social economic classes would have no worries and are just kids. But many kids can sense when there is stress and struggle within the family. By feeling that their parents are stressed it makes them feel stressed because they do not know what is going on and a lot of self-blame is thrown out. These kids have more worries than their counterparts. Sometimes these children do not have a whole lot. And often times some of these children worry about where they are getting their next meal and often live in fear. Of course this may not always be the case. Kids from middle-higher socioeconomic statuses exhibited better sleep habits (Preidt, 2007). That is not to say that these kids families do not experience stress that impacts them it is just that most families with a better income have more confident and secure and are better off.

Lower income families might have bad sleep habits because they are just getting by and afraid they might be short on money. But higher income families have had sleep habits for other reasons. Not always wealthy sleep better, depends on their job. For example, HR workers reported sleeping very poorly (Klein, 2013). The type of occupation a person depicts a persons sleep habits. Certain jobs might make you successful and wealthy but whose not to say those people stress over the work of their jobs. Often people who own their own business or hold higher, powerful positions in a company tend to work long extended hours preventing them from getting the required amount of sleep and then it becomes a routine that they come accustomed too.

The stereotype is extremely harsh on the lower income class only because people assume they go through harder times. Although that may be true I think there is some falseness to it. Not everyone who has a low income may be stressed. They could be happy with their job and love what they do and simply just getting by. Sleep deprivation may not be due to stress because of money but other underlying factors might affect those throughout every social economic class. Stress is not the only reason many people among different social classes are not getting the required 7-9 hours a sleep. You might ask yourself what could be other reasons that people have terrible sleep habits, one word technology. Everyone in our society consumes his or her selves with technology. With so many occupations absorbed in technology people from all various classes across the board spend lots of time each day on their devices. But the most crucial time that people who spend too much time on technology is right before they go to bed. Klein suggests reconsidering the hour you spend before going to bed based on the amount of technology you use. Electronics are sleep stealers (Klein, 2013). This is something that I have personally known and fell victim too. Either it is watching a movie before I go to sleep and fall asleep to the movie or lying in bed playing on my phone until I pass out. It is no wonder that I have not been sleeping through the night. And no matter how often I think about it and know I should not do it I consistently find myself falling victim to it again. So what do we do about this issue with using technology before bed? With too much stimulation it makes it harder for us to wind down (Klein, 2013). We can tell ourselves to shut our computers down and our phone down an hour before bed but to be honest how many of us are really going to do that. It is a habit that we try to break and may go a night or a few nights without starring at our phones at night but our society is addicted to technology and it is a habit that is hard to break.

When we do not get enough sleep it becomes damaging to our body and our health. According to Sleep Your Way to Success, sleep plays a key role in cognitive processes, which means that a lack of it impairs attention, alertness, concentration, reasoning, and problem-solving (Gask, 2014). Kids, teens, and adults have a lack of performance in school and in their jobs when they do not get enough sleep. Not getting adequate amounts of sleep, how are you supposed to perform to your highest potential in your job? Without getting the proper amount of sleep you might be able to feel like you are functioning but are you really doing your best work, probably not. When you choose to stay up late or choose to stay on electronics until you pass out, you are only hindering yourself for the next day to come. Depriving yourself of sleep not only makes less able to perform to your full potential but it also impacts memory and your ability to remember (Gask, 2014). This could be detrimental to kids in school when there is a big test coming up or even for adults who have to give presentations on research that they have done.

Your health is at risk when you do not sleep. And by not sleeping you prevent your body from getting the rest it desires. By not getting enough sleep your body is unable to fight illnesses and in return makes you sick. Now that you are sick how are you going to get all the work that you need to get done for school or for work? It is only going to stress you out thinking about all the things that you need to accomplish but you cannot because you feel like crap. There is one simple solution, sleep. The reason that you got sick in the first place because you were not resting and now all you are going to be able to do is rest because not enough medicine will make you fully recovered unless you get enough rest.

Overall, everyone needs the recommended amount of sleep. And in the long run getting your sleep will be more beneficial for you and your body. Many factors may go into play when you try to defend yourself on the amount of sleep you are getting. For one night shut your laptop down early, turn of the television, and plug your phone in a different place where it is not next to you while you are sleeping and see how well you sleep. But it is your choice if you choose to continue with the lifestyle of not getting enough sleep. Only person it affects is you and the type of work you produce. We should think less about stereotypes and think more about ourselves. Every individual is different and if you feel that you need to get more sleep and it is affecting your daily life then find a solution that works best for you.

It is not a matter of only low economic status families having bad sleeping habits but it is a combination of all economic status including the middle-higher classes. Everyone has their own problems they are dealing with and their own stress factors when it comes to work. We cannot just minimalize it and say that one class is more sleep deprived than the other when there has been research to show that every class struggles with getting the adequate amount of sleep.

Reference:

Gask, M. (2014). SLEEP YOUR WAY TO SUCCESS. Director, 68(1), 50.

Klein, S. (2013, September 3). What Your Income And Occupation Say About Your Sleep Habits. The Huffington Post.  Retrieved November 10, 2014

Preidt, R. (2007, May 2). Poorer Kids Have Poorer Sleep: Study. Health Day Consumer News Service.