African-American professionals are more likely to get less sleep than their white counterparts, says a new study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology.
Researched analyzed the sleep patterns of 137, 000 adults and found that 30 percent were short term sleepers, getting less than seven hours of sleep. Thirty nine percent were “long sleepers” who got seven hours or more of sleep. Of the adults surveyed, 37 percent of Black participants were short sleepers, compared to 28 percent of the White participants.
What’s the reason for the disparity in sleep patterns? Chandra L. Jackson, PhD, lead author of the study attributes it to factors like African-Americans working multiple jobs, longer shift hours, facing discrimination in the workplace—which can lead to job-related stress—and living or working in stressful environments.
Jackson also pointed out how a high work ethic can cause Black professionals to adopt a stressful lifestyle in order to succeed by any means necessary.
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