Comments on: A different picture of American life

By: Lily

Lily — Thu, 20 Jul 2017 21:22:19 +0000

I’d love to know how the results of these kinds of ‘recall yesterday’ surveys differ from the ‘estimate your typical day’ surveys and also from ‘actively track your day’ surveys. It’s amazing how much our perceptions differ from reality (although at the end of the day it’s often the perception that matters most for our experience)

By: lauravanderkam

lauravanderkam — Thu, 20 Jul 2017 19:29:54 +0000

In reply to Leanne Sowul.

@Leanne – sleep quality and sleep quantity are definitely different concepts. But knowing at least one part is in place is good. Also, there was another analysis of the ATUS a few years ago that found that being woken up in the middle of the night by the kids is relatively rare after the first year or two. The study was done to show that it was normally mom waking up with the baby (no surprise there) but what I was surprised by was how low a percent of people were up long enough to report it on their time logs (when I am up with the kids I definitely record it — usually don’t record a bathroom break that I go right back down after, though). So sleep when kids are babies, yes, not so great. But they do grow up (if some of ours seem to grow up slower than others!)

By: lauravanderkam

lauravanderkam — Thu, 20 Jul 2017 19:25:46 +0000

In reply to Phoebe.

@Phoebe – wow, fascinating – I will have to check it out. I love primary sources like that.

By: Phoebe

Phoebe — Thu, 20 Jul 2017 16:46:08 +0000

That is great news about the increase in exercise and health activities – that’s been the case for me as well!

Yesterday I learned about the diary of Martha Ballard and thought of you. She recorded her daily activities for almost 10,000 days starting 1785. The entire diary can be read online here (although you will need to decipher her handwriting): http://dohistory.org/diary/. There is also a book about it called “A Midwife’s Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812” by Laurel Ulrich.

By: Anne

Anne — Thu, 20 Jul 2017 16:06:06 +0000

Agreed, these studies are fascinating. And the evidence upholds your suggestion that the tough parts of life stand out more than the (simple) good things even if they are less frequent than we believe.

By: Leanne Sowul

Leanne Sowul — Thu, 20 Jul 2017 15:15:38 +0000

Despite the evidence that we all (including mothers of young kids, like me) are sleeping more than we think– which is great news!– I still understand the narrative of feeling desperate for rest. The amount of sleep often matters less than the quality or consistency. I might have gotten 8 hours last night, but that’s only because I was able to spend almost 9 in bed. That missing hour was spent being woken up multiple times, which definitely resulted in poor quality sleep overall.

By: gwinne

gwinne — Thu, 20 Jul 2017 14:30:48 +0000

The numbers are always fascinating, as an average. But really that doesn’t say much about individual experience, esp if you are an outlier, as I am, for many key areas.

By: Angela

Angela — Thu, 20 Jul 2017 14:01:22 +0000

Thank you for sharing this- I love hearing the trends!

The sleep numbers don’t surprise me, but I feel like sleep quality is something that affects parents. I may go to bed at 10 and wake up at 6 or 6:30 for a total of 8-8 1/2 hrs, but if my kid woke up in the middle of the night, it doesn’t feel like a restful sleep