NatNews

According to a recent Gallup poll, for the first time since 2001, a majority (57 percent) of adults in the U.S. indicated that they do not get enough sleep each night. NatNews research confirmed such findings, as only 8 percent of dear readers who participated in an online poll said they achieve this feat, while 40 percent said they definitely do not, 35 percent said they sometimes don’t, and 18 percent believe that they sometimes do but likely need to get more sleep.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises that adults sleep at least seven hours each night in order to maintain quality health and overall well-being. Dallas resident Drew Mbiam said he is aware of his need to sleep more, but his habits aren’t helping him do so.

“I wake up early and try to stay up late, which is why I keep failing,” he said.

While Mbiam is not alone in his complicated relationship with sleep, there are various reasons why some people aren’t able to enter that rest realm for a full seven hours or more. Dallas resident Aaron Byrkit, who is a father to two young boys, said he probably only gets the necessary amount of sleep two nights each week.

“The rest of the time, I don’t because I either decide to go to bed later than I should or am woken in the night or early in the morning by one of my kiddos,” he said.

Though an individual doesn’t hit the magic sleep number doesn’t mean that he or she doesn’t desire to do so, though. San Angelo resident Leslie McCary said she makes concerted efforts to ensure that she’s able to give her body the sleep it needs every night, but there are certainly times when it doesn’t happen.

“I try to be on a routine because I know it helps me sleep better,” she said. “Most of my sleep schedule can depend on what I have going on at work, if I’m stressed, or if my husband isn’t home.”

Despite outside factors creating difficulties to one’s sleep schedule, some people are still able to manage consistently escaping to dreamland for long enough to be adequately rested for the next day. Dallas resident Kirsten Kraske said she prioritizes sleep in her day-to-day life and is able to get a full night’s rest about 90 percent of the time.

“I try to average 8–10 hours of sleep and have found that a solid 10 p.m.–7 a.m. sleep cycle works best for me,” she said. “I’d say I do get enough sleep because the majority of my days are filled with a commute, full 8–10 hours of work, exercise, and often reading a book before bed.”

One contributing factor for many individuals struggling to sleep sufficient amounts is the increasing levels of stress people experience on a daily basis. For Americans, the most recent data revealed that the percentage of those reporting frequently feeling stressed has steadily risen at record rates over the past two decades. Mbiam is not surprised by this and knows the impact stress can have on a person’s ability to rest easily.

“Stress ruins a lot of things—sleep is one of them,” he said. “We live in very stressful times. The weather’s going crazy, people suck at driving, and people work too much.”

For Byrkit, there is a strong correlation between sleep and stress, and together, they can create a “difficult feedback loop.”

“Sometimes stress can cause insomnia,” he said. “Not getting enough sleep, in turn, can decrease one’s ability to handle stress.”

Though Kraske is diligent in her efforts to get plenty of sleep each night, she’s no stranger to the stress-taking-away-sleep reality that so many individuals face. In fact, she experienced this rather often when she was in college, particularly when cram time was in full force. However, she’s found ways to cope and work through similar stressful situations she now experiences in her adult life.

“Midterms and finals weeks were always the worst—not just because I was busy studying but also due to the stress of needing to pass those exams,” she said. “I have ‘fond’ memories of dreaming about amortization tables from accounting. I think it’s also one of those things that, when you can’t find a way to get your mind to calm down, you tend to run in circles and can’t relax. The best way to mitigate this is to exercise.”

In multiple areas of their lives, adults are often significantly impacted by a variety of stressors, including in their careers, comparisons with others, mental and physical health, social circles, relationships, families, etc.

“I think one factor is the pressure put on American workers to be productive most of the time,” Byrkit said. “Sometimes the pressure even seeps into our personal lives. I think social media has also added to the feeling of anxiousness and stress, both from the way it’s changed people’s sense of personal validation and from the information it pushes to us to maximize one of our most potent emotional responses: fear/anxiety. I also think there is a hangover effect we are still feeling from going through COVID as a society, both in how we could interact with each other and in the conflict about how and whether to handle it that arose from the moment.”

McCary said she also believes in the ability of stress to decrease the quality or amount of sleep one is able to have, and like Byrkit, she recognizes that there are multiple factors contributing to this ongoing issue.

“If you’re anything like me, your mind has trouble turning off,” she said. “The demands of life tend to be more stressful, and not to get political, but I think some people are truly trying to make ends meet. While I’m beyond blessed, I know most aren’t.”

Kraske also noted that financial struggles and the rising costs of even basic necessities have heavily contributed to the levels of stress many Americans continually feel, though she said she also believes people’s addictions to their phones aren’t helping much, either.

“Most people are trying to find ways to [afford daily life with what they have], and these are things that will definitely keep you up at night,” she said. “While I think that’s one factor, I think the biggest factor is discipline with your phone or other electronic devices. The average screen time for an adult American is seven hours and three minutes. If this were reduced by three to four hours, people could give themselves the time to relax and calm down before going to bed.”

In the U.S., since 2009, the paper recycling rate has met or exceeded 63 percent, and approximately 80 percent of U.S. paper mills use recycled paper to make new products.

The self-checkout option at grocery stores was first introduced in 1986 in Atlanta-area Kroger locations, though it wasn’t until the early 2000s that it became more widely used at grocery chains throughout the nation.

While the concept was meant to be more economically feasible and customer-friendly, shoppers and retailers alike experience a variety of frustrations regarding technical difficulties with self-checkout stations. Additionally, theft has become an issue—one San Francisco woman was recently convicted of stealing more than $60,000 worth of products from Target over the span of a little more than a year, and more locally, the Southlake DPS used plenty of puns when it posted to its Facebook page searching for a woman who stole more than $170 worth of alcohol from Central Market while using self-checkout.

Dallas-area resident Stephanie Hone usually goes grocery shopping once a week for the entire week and prefers not to scan and bag her items herself because of the difficulties doing so can present.

“There’s too much stuff to scan on my own, and that usually makes people with like two items pissed,” she said. “And if my toddler is with me, it’s a hard no. She will want to scan everything—ain’t nobody got time for that.”

Like Hone, Dallas resident Eric Napple makes a weekly trip to the store so that he can meal prep and have everything he needs for the week ahead. He might make additional trips for odds and ends throughout the week, as needed, and his use of the self-checkout stations depends on how much he’s buying.

“For my Sunday haul at Central Market, I go to the checkout person due to the number of items,” he said. “Otherwise, I use self-checkout.”

For some individuals, however, self-checkout is much faster, regardless of how full their shopping carts are. Dallas-area resident Valerie Vela usually goes to the grocery store twice a week (sometimes more) and almost always uses self-checkout.

“I find that I can get in and out of the store so much more quickly with self-checkout,” she said. “Also, even though I do enjoy chatting with store employees sometimes, there are some days when I don’t feel up to being social. On those days, it helps to have the option to go through the self-checkout line.”

Even though many people and entities would like to say farewell to self-checkout forever—California is trying to implement a bill that would limit self-checkout at large grocery and drug retail stores—it appears to be sticking around, as places like Walmart, Kroger, and Dollar General are piloting self-checkout-only stores, and Costco and Albertsons have brought self-checkout back after removing it years ago. While Vela said she hopes that it’s here to stay, she does acknowledge that there are certain downsides, some of which she witnessed recently on a Sunday morning at a Kroger at which self-checkout was the only option.

“There were only a few registers open, and several people were checking out with carts full of groceries, which caused big delays,” she said. “I like stores that only allow self-checkout for 15–20 items or fewer. Also, I know theft has become an issue with self-checkout, which could make the process more cumbersome. I recently went to The Home Depot, where they had an employee scanning everyone’s items. I get that they are trying to avoid theft, but then they might as well bring back cashiers because that experience wasn’t truly self-checkout.”

Napple said he also thinks self-checkout can certainly be beneficial, though much of that truth depends on the grocery store.

“Some stores are poorly staffed, and it takes too long to wait in line,” he said. “But if you’re using self-checkout, speed up, and get with the program. I’m not a fan of the slow ones in front of people. It’s about getting in and out, people—speed it up!”

And though Hone still prefers someone else ringing up her groceries for her on her more extensive shopping trips, she said self-checkout is a great option when a person is purchasing roughly five items or fewer or wants to feel a little younger.

“I usually go there when I’ve got to scan a bottle of wine,” she said. “But then I still have to wait for someone to look at my ID, which is nice these days since I’m nearing 40—even though they don’t even really look at my ID.”

WEEKLY PHOTO OP

A NatNews staff member was honored to see some dear readers Saturday morning

Monday, May 13: Mavs vs. Thunder (Game 4) at the American Airlines Center; Rangers vs. Guardians at Globe Life Field
Tuesday, May 14: Pickleball Mixer at Sandy Pickle at The Village; Free Rooftop Movie — Easy A at Sundown at Granada
Wednesday, May 15: Stars vs. Avalanche (Game 5) at the American Airlines Center; Dallas Wings vs. Chicago Sky at College Park Center; Parker McCollum and Friends at Top Golf in The Colony
Thursday, May 16: Cool Thursdays Concert Series — King of Diamonds, a Neil Diamond Tribute at the Dallas Arboretum; Academy of Country Music Awards at The Star
Friday, May 17: Rangers vs. Angels at Globe Life Field; National Pizza Party Day
Saturday, May 18: WRRC Saturday run from Taco Joint; Hope Starts Here 5K at Klyde Warren Park; The Dinner Detective Murder Mystery Dinner at the Hilton Garden Inn Downtown Dallas
Sunday, May 19: Bend & Brunch — Yoga at the Brewery at Community Beer Co.; Dallas Jackals vs. Seattle Seawolves at Choctaw Stadium