A study found out that single parents, especially single moms struggle more with their sleep, compared to families with two parents and adults with no kids. The study was conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics.
The survey found out that single parents taking care of children under 18 years old have shorter sleep period, struggle to stay asleep and they are having a hard time falling asleep too. The majority of the single parents also said they are less likely to feel well rested every time they woke up.
According to the gathered data, 43.5 percent of single mothers sleep less than seven hours a day, compared to 31.2 percent of women who have co-parents within the families and 29.7 percent of females without children yet.
The data also showed that single moms had lower quality in terms of sleep. About 24 percent of the respondents said they had trouble falling asleep while 28.2 percent said they are struggling to stay asleep and 52 percent of them said every time they woke up, they didn't feel well rested.
Researchers also found out that just like single moms, single dads suffered from poor sleep as well. About 37.5 percent of the single dads said they always didn't get enough sleep.
Nugent said the significance of the study was to bring awareness about the importance of health and well- being, especially to single parents.
"Our study contributes something by paying some attention to the health of single parents themselves," she said to Huffington Post. "Given how important sleep is for health and wellbeing, it's something we need to pay attention to."
While researchers are currently trying to find the cause why single parents are suffering with sleeplessness nights, many experts relate the problem to insomnia and biological reasons.
Experts started on focusing on the health being of the single parents after numbers of single parenthood increased in the U.S. According to statistic, roughly 41 percent who gave births were unmarried women.
