Sleep

Americans are killing themselves with work. Americans often are sleep deprived, stressed and have problems at home. All of this are most probably caused from over working. I think sleep deprivation is a major problem in the United States. It must make sense that if an American is over working he/she cannot possibly get in the minimum of six hours sleep. Being a college student myself, I often see over worked students sleep through class. These students work and are pressured to keep up good grades. I often here student telling me that they got in about four hours of sleep. If at a college students age, they are sleep deprived, it's logical to think that by the time they hit thirty they will be doing double the workload. Americans are simply not saving themselves from over working. "[N]o labor has been saved," says Juliet B. Schor. To me, being sleep deprived is almost like a vicious cycle: get up for a long day of work, college, family life, or whatever it may be, then people get 5 hours sleep if they're lucky. By the time the next day comes, they're simply too tired to function! from what I have witnessed you simply get students taking naps in class - not learning!

Another problem with Americans over working is the massive stress levels. For many people work alone is often a main source of stress. I know my mom is under a lot of stress to do the house work, spend time with her family and work. According to Schor, "mothers reported it caused either "a lot" or an "extreme" level of stress." To me, this is killing yourself with work. Where's the fun to life? When do we take those relaxing holidays to release stress? Although workers have the option to take a few weeks leave for vacation, I'm hardly convinced many Americans do this. Especially for a married couple, getting time off at the same time must not be an easy task. "Two-earner couples have less time together, says Schor.

Consequently, this must cause a great deal of stress for any couple. Exhaustion is another symptom of stress. Many Americans seem to be exhausted at the end of the day. This is detrimental for a couple with children at home. "When parents are at home, overwork may leave them with limited time, attention, or energy for their children, says Schor. Parents are simply too tired and the attention children require must add to the stress and misery these over-worked parents already have. Again, they are "killing" themselves with work.

Finally, this ties in with my last point about problems at home. Overworked parents have "too little