For many of us, bedtime can be a torment. Ironically, when it comes to sleep, we're our own worst enemy. Our efforts to get some rest often turn one fitful night into full-blown insomnia.
Blame it on the Industrial Revolution. Or maybe on the light bulb. But ever since man met machine, sleep has been on the skids.
In 2001, 38 percent of U.S. adults said they were sleeping less than they were just five years earlier. Americans now average seven hours in bed per night, and close to 60 percent now report they have trouble sleeping at least a few nights every week.
Seduced by 24-hour casinos, Seinfeld reruns and the Internet, Americans have plenty of zersions to keep them wired and alert. Did we mention L.L. Bean, the store that never closes? There's always good old worry, the anguish of relationships gone wrong and, right up there with the best of the sleep-wreckers, the dour discomfort of gastroesophageal reflux.
The biggest sleep robber of all, however, is work—the puritan ethic gone haywire in an era of global markets. To accommodate the relentless pressure for productivity, we're sleeping less and spending less time in social and leisure pursuits; the resulting stress can steal away even more sleep. Consider this: We're not only missing more
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