If you ever thought wealthy people with high powered jobs were getting less sleep than the average person, you might want to think again. According to CNN.com, Dr. Diane S. Lauderdale and her colleagues at the University of Chicago recently studied the sleep habits of 669 adults in the Chicago area, comparing them by race and gender. The researchers found that poorer people tend to get less sleep.

Dr. Lauderdale and her colleagues monitored the sleep habits of a group of men and women, mostly in their 40s, who were also participating in a study measuring their risk of heart disease. The participants told the researchers how much sleep they thought they were getting, then tracked their time spent in bed and asleep using sleep logs. They also wore actigraphs, devices resembling wristwatches that recorded their activity for three days, including two weeknights and one weekend night.

Though many people thought they were getting at least seven hours of sleep, most were actually only getting about six hours. White women tended to get the most amount of sleep at 6.7 hours per night, while white men got about 6.1 hours. Black women only slept 5.9 hours per night, while black men got the least amount of sleep at 5.1 hours per night. The disparities remained even after the researchers factored in socioeconomic factors. The overall amount of sleep increased with income and this finding was stronger for black participants than it was for the white participants.

The researchers came up with several reasons why poorer people weren't sleep as well. Having less money can cause a person to worry about paying their bills, preventing them from sleeping. Being poorer may also mean living in a noisier, less comfortable home, which may also affect sleep. And poor people also tend to be less healthy than those who have money, which could certainly affect sleep.

Dr. Lauderdale and her colleagues published this study in a recent issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology. The group believes that this research may help to explain some of the health disparities between blacks and whites.

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