Single parents, especially single moms, face a lot of problems on a day to day basis whether it be a financial problem or a problem with their young child. Unfortunately, most of the time single mothers forget to take care of themselves and almost half of them share a common ailment.
In a recent article published on Live Science, most single parents have one thing in common. According to the United States Center for Disease Control in prevention, single mothers have the worst sleep patterns. This is true for all single parents, but more so for mothers without a partner.
Compared to adults who have a partner in parenting and adults without children, single parents have it worst when it comes to sleep. "Single parents with kids under 18 years old have shorter sleep times, more trouble falling asleep and struggle to stay asleep. When they wake up, single parents are also less likely to feel well-rested," says a report on the Huffington Post.
The study is not the first of its kind, but it has been the most extensive effort so far. Experts say that it is of high importance to conduct study on the lives of single parents. This is because the number of single-parent households has been on the rise over the past couple of years.
According to the study, "About 43.5 percent of single moms got less than seven hours of sleep, compared to 31.2 percent of women in two-parent families and 29.7 percent of women without children. Among single dads, this number was 37.5 percent."
The study also touched on the quality of sleep single parents get. "About 24 percent of single moms said they had trouble falling asleep, 28.2 percent said they had trouble staying asleep, and 52 percent said they didn't feel rested when they woke up."
Single dads also had worse sleeping patterns compared to married ones. However, the contrast is more apparent in single mothers.
