The number one cause of the growing sleep deficit in the United States, according to a recent USA Weekend Special Health Report on "The National Sleep Debt," is "indifference to the importance of sleep."

Citing the 1995 the National Sleep Foundation Gallup survey showing that 49% of Americans report trouble getting to sleep or staying asleep, Peter Jaret writes in this January 3, 1997, report that "a pill won't cure this number one cause."

"Between early-morning meetings and late night television, between the demands of work and the pleasures of family and friends," he continues, "we're too quick to scrimp on sleep. Along the way, we may rob ourselves of the energy and alertness we need to enjoy it all."

This is in keeping with our own findings, which show the two leading causes of sleep loss problems to be stress and our beliefs about the importance of sleep.