A new US government report reveals, just one-third of adults confirm they get enough sleep every night.

According to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), some 50-million to 70-million adults in USA suffer from insomnia and sleep disorders. Insufficient sleep has been linked with mental distress, anxiety, depression, obesity, hyper-tension, high cholesterol, diabetes, including certain risk behaviors like lack of exercise, heavy smoking and drinking.

Dr. Bruce Nolan, Director of University of Miami Miller School of Medicine's Sleep Centre, says a very small percentage of people are getting adequate amounts of rest and sleep, most important for physical and mental health.

Nolan states, a minimum of 7-hours of sleep is required for eliciting alertness, better work performance and quality of life, with more health, work, performance and productivity problems for those who get far too little or far too much of sleep.

The report published in the 30th October issue of CDC's publication - Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report found, 11.1% of the U. S. adults surveyed said they had not got enough sleep in the past month.

As well, CDC researchers collected data from a survey of 403,981-adults across the States and noted 12.4% of women compared to 9.9% of men seemed more likely to report sleep problems.

There were ethnic and geographical differences also, with 13.3% blacks getting less sleep than other ethnic groups, including geographical differences ranging from a low of 7.4% of North Dakotans and 19.3% of West Virginians reported getting insufficient rest.

Meanwhile, notable demographic variations in the amount of sleep Americans got were broken down by geographic location, age, race, gender, class and education. The results showed the greatest rates of sleeplessness were to be found in the southeastern United States and among racial and ethnic minorities.

People with no high school diploma tended to get better sleep than university graduates, while 38% of people with little schooling i. e. less than a high school diploma or equivalency test reported getting sufficient sleep, compared to 28% of college graduates.

Women slept worse than men, younger people worse than the elderly, whites slept better than Latinos and blacks, the study showed, noting lifestyle, occupation and specific sleep disorders are some of the main, overlapping causes for sleep loss.

Nolan reports, in the past sleep was thought to be a waste of time and to be avoided, the general belief being that 7 to 8-hours of sleep was a sign of laziness, thinking which is now outdate, as evidence suggest 'good quality sleep is associated with better quality of life'.

CDC suggests the following ways for people with sleep problems to get better quality sleep:

" Keeping a regular sleep schedule.

" Avoiding stimulating activities 2- hours before bedtime.

" Avoiding caffeine, nicotine and alcohol in the evening.

" Sleeping in a dark, quiet, well-ventilated room.

" Avoiding going to bed hungry.

CDC also found sleep medications to be helpful, warning chronic lack of sleep could have serious health consequences.