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Report on Are You Catching Enough Zzzz's?
Smart girls decide for themselves™.
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A total of 693 people took this survey--672 girls, 9 boys, and 12 people who didn't identify themselves by sex. Most of the respondents are between 12 and 15 years old, but we did hear from people as young as 6 and a few who are over 22 years old. Those who took the survey represent a variety of ethnic backgrounds and nationalities. We received responses from Albania, Bulgaria, Jamaica, Oman, and Wales.
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If your family is anything like mine, the issue of bedtimes is probably a frequent topic of arguments, or negotiations (as I prefer to call them). Here are your current bedtimes:
On weeknights
~Before 8pm: 22
~8:00 - 8:59pm: 36
~9:00 - 9:59pm: 215
~10:00 - 10:59pm: 187
~11:00 - 11:59pm: 93
~12:00 - 12:59am: 23
~1am or later: 13
~I don't have a bedtime: 104
On weekend nights
~Before 8pm: 42
~8:00 - 8:59pm: 1
~9:00 - 9:59pm: 34
~10:00 - 10:59pm: 123
~11:00 - 11:59pm: 150
~12:00 - 12:59am: 97
~1:00 - 1:59am: 71
~2am or later: 175
The most popular reason for staying up past bedtime was watching tv or a movie (221). Next came homework (109), other (102), reading (87), and staying out with friends (43). 87 lucky people answered that they don't have a bedtime and 9 conscientious individuals said that they've never stayed up past their bedtime.
Curfews can also cause friction between kids and their caregivers. Here's what you answered when we asked about your weekend curfew. I'm shocked that so many of you don't have a curfew at all!
~Earlier than 8pm: 69
~8pm: 35
~9pm: 60
~10pm: 78
~11pm: 92
~12am: 52
~1am: 24
~2am: 5
~Later than 2am: 9
~I don't have a curfew: 269
We also wanted to know whether you consider yourself an early riser or a night owl. Check out the pie chart below for the results. Not surprisingly, there are relatively few early risers.
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| Early riser or night owl? |
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There is a lot of debate about whether dreams are meaningful or whether they're just random images. Whatever the truth, it's still interesting to discuss dreams. A lot of you answered that you usually remember at least part of your dreams. Look at the graph below for the complete results.
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| How often do you remember at least part of your dreams? |
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Sleep is supposed to be the time when we can take a break from the world and rest our minds. That's one of the reasons why nightmares are so unsettling. How often do you wake up after having a bad dream?
~Never: 83
~Rarely: 298
~Sometimes: 187
~Often: 108
It sounds like an episode of The Twilight Zone, but we wanted to know if you have ever woken up wondering whether a dream really happened or not. 567 said yes (ooh, creepy!) and 111 answered no.
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As we found out earlier, few of you consider yourselves early risers. That means that getting up on a weekday probably isn't the easiest or most pleasant of tasks. So on the morning of a school day, who or what do you rely on to wake you up? The table below will give you all the details. 2 people answered "god" to this question. I'd like to know how that works, exactly.
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| What wakes you up? |
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count | percent |
wakeup
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| caregiver |
404 | 33.53 |
| siblings |
96 | 7.97 |
| buzz |
335 | 27.8 |
| music |
118 | 9.79 |
| onown |
218 | 18.09 |
| pets |
10 | 0.83 |
| phone |
7 | 0.58 |
| tv |
5 | 0.41 |
| friend |
3 | 0.25 |
| other |
9 | 0.75 |
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Reports from experts come out regularly in the news about how kids aren't getting enough sleep. This can affect your success at school and your ability to perform complex tasks. That's why we thought it was important to find out how much sleep you've been getting.
Have you ever stayed up all night?
~No: 52
~Almost, but no: 157
~Once: 100
~2-4 times: 222
~5-7 times: 44
~More than 7 times: 118
Have you ever fallen asleep in class?
~A lot: 17
~Sometimes: 227
~Never: 432
How much do you like to nap?
~Whenever I can: 110
~Only if there's nothing better to do: 128
~When I am procrastinating or avoiding something: 54
~Only occasionally: 242
~Never: 146
You would most likely say:
~I wish I could get more sleep: 431
~I get enough sleep: 223
~I get too much sleep: 24
How many hours of sleep should a person your age get each night?
~More than 12 hours: 81
~12 hours: 29
~11 hours: 34
~10 hours: 132
~9 hours: 154
~8 hours: 211
~7 hours: 34
~6 hours: 8
~5 hours: 3
~Less than 5 hours: 7
How many hours of sleep do you get each night?
~More than 12 hours: 43
~12 hours: 10
~11 hours: 17
~10 hours: 55
~9 hours: 117
~8 hours: 167
~7 hours: 148
~6 hours: 87
~5 hours: 27
~Less than 5 hours: 22
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We spend a large part of our lives in bed, so you have to make sure that it's just the way you want it. Currently, 273 sleep in a twin-size bed, 175 in a queen, 69 in a king, 65 use another unspecified type of bed, 63 are in a bunk bed, 13 on the floor, 12 on a futon, 10 on a couch, 7 in a loft, and 6 have a water bed. I hope those of you on futons, couches, or the floor get something more comfortable soon. Ouch!
If you could change your bed, however, most of you (425) would make it bigger. The next most popular choice (389) would be to have more blankets and pillows on it. Running close behind (385) was a softer bed. Many (247) would also opt for a higher bed. Others said they wanted more stuffed animals (133), a firmer bed (54), a lower bed (51), fewer blankets and pillows (22), or a smaller bed (14). 108 people, on the other hand, are content with their beds and wouldn't change a thing.
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| What is your favorite activity to do before going to sleep? |
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count | percent |
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activity
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| read |
398 | 14.72 |
| TV |
485 | 17.94 |
| phone |
283 | 10.47 |
| family |
191 | 7.06 |
| writing |
214 | 7.91 |
| draw |
126 | 4.66 |
| pray |
162 | 5.99 |
| homework |
154 | 5.7 |
| pet |
170 | 6.29 |
| eat |
244 | 9.02 |
| clean |
59 | 2.18 |
| exercise |
123 | 4.55 |
| music |
27 | 1 |
| online |
40 | 1.48 |
| bath |
5 | 0.18 |
| nothing |
10 | 0.37 |
| other |
13 | 0.48 |
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The table above shows what you like to do before going to sleep, but what about what you do while you're asleep? It turns out that 385 of you roll around, 261 kick, 211 talk, 127 snore, 84 fall out of bed, 73 sleepwalk, and 268 of you have no clue about your nocturnal activities. Some of you are more active while you're sleeping than I am when I'm awake! Very sad.
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| How frequently do you have sleepovers with your friends? |
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Imagine that you are hosting a sleepover with ten of your friends and one girl (who doesn't usually hang out with your group) falls asleep much earlier than everyone else. Everyone thinks it would be funny to spray whipped cream in her hair as a practical joke. They ask you to go get the whipped cream, but you don't want to hurt her feelings. What would you do?
~"Get the whipped cream but have a cream fight with the other girls instead!"
~"I wouldn't get the whipped cream. It's a stupid and cruel thing to do. I don't care if anybody else doesn't like it when I say "No", but if they are my friends and they ask me to do that, not knowing my principles then I suppose it would be time to get new friends."
~"Maybe if it was my brother...hee hee. But since this girl is my friend, and a guest in my home, I would not let them do it."
~"I would probably distract them with something else, or say that we don't have any whipped cream."
~"I'd warn everyone that if they do put whipped cream in her hair, I'd do the same to them when they fall asleep. They should get the point..."
~"I'd do it. It's just messing about. If she doesn't like it, she hasn't got much of a sense of humor!"
~"I think whipped cream is mean 'cause it would take ages to come out. I'd probably say that was boring and instead we should use face paints and draw a moustache and beard on her face. She could see the funny side of that and it wouldn't be hard to get off."
~"I wouldn't get the whipped cream. I would just ask my friends if they would like it if they woke up with whipped cream in their hair or not. I would tell them that I wouldn't like it if someone did that to me. They should treat everyone equally, no matter who the person is."
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Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts
with us!
Please remember that all web-based polls
are not scientific because the pollsters cannot randomly select the
respondents to participate in the surveys.
All our surveys are anonymous; check out our privacy
policy. All data copyright 1996-2000.
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